A BRONCHOPLEUROCUTANEOUS FISTULA CAUSED BY AN UNUSUAL FOREIGN-BODY ASPIRATION SIMULATING ACUTE ABDOMEN

12-year-old boy was admitted to hospital for abdominal pain, vomiting and fever. On physical examination he had rales on the lower right hemithorax without any respiratory complaints. Chest X-ray revealed a condensation in the right lower chest. Abdominal findings were secondary to lobar pneumonia. Treatment of pneumonia with antibiotics showed no improvement over 2 days. On bronchoscopy no foreign body was seen, but pus was aspirated. Two days later a mass appeared on the right hemithorax and fistulized. An organic foreign body, Hordeum murinum, with 3-5 ml of pus was observed. Chest X-ray taken at the day of fistulization showed no pneumothorax or subcutaneous emphysema. Less than 11 cases of pneumocutaneous fistulas secondary to aspiration of grasses have been reported in literature. Why an ear of Hordeum murinum can migrate only in a forward direction and why a pneumothorax had not developed is discussed.