Foreign bodies of the ear and nose in children and its correlation with right or left handed children

SummaryObjectiveForeign bodies (FB) of the ear and nose are common findings in the pediatric population. The objective of this project is to present our experience of cases presented to our department and to correlate the insertion of the FB in relation to the child’s handedness.MethodsThis project was carried out at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery of “Aghia Sophia” Children’s Hospital (Athens, Greece), between December 2007 and August 2008. Data collected includes age and sex of the child, time elapsed between the insertion of the FB and its removal, type of FB, site of insertion, description of the child’s handedness, conditions of removal and complications.Results46 FB were removed from the nasal cavities. On the right nasal cavity, 29/31 (93.55%) children were right handed and 2/31 (6.45%) were left handed. On the left nasal cavity, 11/14 (78.57%) were right handed and 3/14 (21.43%) children were left handed. One right handed child had a FB in both nasal cavities. 44 FB were removed from the ear (external auditory canal: EAC), 30 (68.18%) from the right EAC and 14 (31.82%) from the left. On the right EAC, 28/30 (93.33%) children were right handed and 2/30 (6.67%) were left handed. Children with FB of the left EAC were 9/14 (64.29%) right handed and 5/14 (35.71%) left handed.ConclusionsChildren insert FB into their nasal cavities randomly (P = 0.308). As a result, there is no correlation with the child’s handedness and right/left nasal cavities FB insertion. On the other hand, children do insert FB into their right/left EAC according whether they are right/left handed (P = 0.014). Consequently, right handed children insert FB into their right EAC and left handed children into their left EAC.