Natural history of an aspirated foreign body

Foreign body aspiration is found frequently in children, but is relatively uncommon in adults. When aspirated, it causes acute respiratory symptoms. It is rare to find a case where aspirated foreign body remains inside the body for a prolonged period of time. We present an adult who aspirated a foreign body and presented to us 4 years after the initial aspiration. The author wishes to report this case and review the relatively sparse literature on this subject.