Coin in the Bronchus Intermedius for 25 Years: Complication of Chronic Foreign Body Aspiration

Chronic bronchial obstructions from inhaled objects are uncommon in the adult population. Long-term complications of foreign body aspiration have included hemoptysis, recurrent pneumonia, empyema, and abscess formation. We report the patient case of a 66-year-old man, with an accidental inhalation of a coin 25 years ago that was never retrieved, who presented with progressive shortness of breath and was found to have an infected lung bulla in the setting of giant bullous emphysema secondary to the chronic right bronchial foreign body.