Choking
| Choking | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| A demonstration of abdominal thrusts on a person showing signs of choking | |
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | Emergency medicine |
| ICD-10 | F41.0, R06.8, T17, W78-W80 |
| ICD-9-CM | 784.9, 933.1 |
| MeSH | D000402 |
Choking is the mechanical obstruction of the flow of air from the environment into the lungs. Choking prevents breathing, and can be partial or complete, with partial choking allowing some, although inadequate, flow of air into the lungs. Prolonged or complete choking results in asphyxia which leads to anoxia and is potentially fatal. Oxygen stored in the blood and lungs can keep a person alive for several minutes after breathing stops.
Choking can be caused by:
Obstruction of the airway can occur at the level of the pharynx or the trachea. Foods that can adapt their shape to that of the pharynx (such as bananas, marshmallows, or gelatinous candies) can be a danger not just for children but for persons of any age.
Choking due to a foreign object resulted in 162,000 deaths in 2013 up from 140,000 deaths in 1990.
The type of choking most commonly recognized as such by the public is the lodging of foreign objects (also known as foreign bodies, but consisting of any object which comes from outside the body itself, including food, toys or household objects) in the airway.
This type of choking is often suffered by small children, who are unable to appreciate the hazard inherent in putting small objects in their mouth. In adults, it mostly occurs while the patient is eating. In one study, peanuts were the most common obstruction.
Choking can be treated with a number of different procedures, with both basic techniques available for first aiders and more advanced techniques available for health professionals.
Basic treatment includes a number of procedures aiming at removing foreign bodies from the airways. Most modern protocols, including those of the American Heart Association and the American Red Cross, recommend several stages, designed to apply increasingly more pressure. Most protocols recommend encouraging the victim to cough, followed by hard back slaps and if none of these things work; abdominal thrusts (Heimlich maneuver) or chest thrusts. If back slaps are performed, they must be performed with the head lower than the chest (i.e., bend the person over when you slap them hard between the shoulder blades with the heel of the palm); otherwise, the blow may drive the object deeper into the person's throat.
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Wikipedia