Particulate matter can lodge in the lower airways. Symptoms depend on the caliber of both object and airway. Obstruction high in the trachea may produce acute apnea, often with aphonia and rapid death. Obstruction of more distal airways results in an irritating chronic cough and sometimes in recurrent infections distal to the obstruction. Another clue to this diagnosis is recurrent parenchymal infections in the same segment of lung.
Therapy consists of extracting the object, usually by bronchoscopy.
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