A case of female infant who had recurrent episodes of foreign bodies in the esophagus was reported. The first incident occurred at her age of 18 months, when she had a piece of meat caught in the esophagus. A year later, she had a piece of sausage as a foreign body for the second time. In both occasions the foreign bodies were endoscopically removed by forceps. Roentgenological and endoscopic examinations showed no organic changes in the esophagus. In both incidents the foreign bodies were caught at the junction between the middle one thirds and the lower one thirds of the esophagus, where the musculature of the esophageal wall is composed solely of the smooth muscles. Therefore it was assumed that, in this infant, the foreign body incidents were caused by a kind of functional constriction, which might result from peculiarities in the structure of the wall, actions of the smooth muscles and innervations, as well as from a functional disturbance of the autonomic nervous systems.
According to the author's experiences and literature as well, the incident of foreign body caused by an accessory whistle of a nibbling toy always occurred in infants of three months to six months of age. The sequelae were often serious and frequently fatal because of suffocation and difficulty in extraction.
The author proposed some ideas to prevent foreign body incidents in infants, especially those of coins which occur most frequently, and those of accessory whistles of nibbling toys which are very dangerous. A preliminary effect of the prevention was also presented.