Embryonated duck ("balut") eggshell aspiration in a one-year-old boy

Lapeña JF Jr
Correspondence: Dr José Florencio F Lapeña Jr., lapenajf@upm.edu.ph

ABSTRACT
A one-year-old boy with two months’ chronic cough and dysphonia, unresponsive to therapy for pneumonia, had a radiopaque, wedge-shaped tracheal foreign body noted on anteroposterior, but not lateral radiographs, and he eventually became aphonic. Laryngoscopy yielded a subglottic embryonated duck eggshell. Foreign body aspiration should be considered in the presence of chronic cough. Radiopaque airway foreign bodies may be metallic or calcific. The patient was fond of sucking soup from a partially-shelled embryonated duck egg. The last occasion occurred immediately before the onset of cough. The hard egg white of the same delicacy is a commonly-ingested oesophageal foreign body in the Philippines, but the preceding slurping of the amniotic fluid predisposes one to unusual eggshell aspiration. With the continuing global migration of overseas workers and their families, healthcare providers with Asian and Southeast Asian clients should consider such cultural practices in assessing symptoms suggestive of aerodigestive foreign bodies.

Keywords: “balut”, embryonated duck egg, eggshell, foreign body aspiration, laryngotracheal foreign body
Singapore Med J 2009; 50(5): e170-e171