Heimlich Maneuver for Esophageal Obstruction

To the Editor: The Heimlich maneuver is widely advocated for the relief of an obstructed airway. A recent experience demonstrated that this technique may be useful with esophageal obstructions as well. My eight-year-old daughter was walking with a butterscotch disk in her mouth when she slipped. As she reflexly righted herself, she “swallowed” the disk. She came to me retching, but neither coughing nor in respiratory distress. Her speech was clear, and she described a pain to the right of her cricothyroid region. I could not see the disk in the posterior pharynx. I delivered an unsuccessful blow to the…