Intrabronchial foreign body: An unusual cause of chronic cough

Tracheobronchial foreign body is a potentially life threatening emergency which usually presents with sudden onset of cough, dyspnoea, wheeze and cyanosis. Timely recognition and retrieval is important to save life. Aspiration of foreign body is rare in adults with sound mentation. Foreign body aspiration very rarely presents with chronic cough mimicking other chronic diseases. Here we report the case of a 58 year old male with chronic cough and occasional haemoptysis who was initially diagnosed to have bronchogenic carcinoma on computed tomography which later turned out to be a very benign condition i.e. impacted arecanut on rigid bronchoscopy highlighting the importance of performing an endoscopy in a suspected case of foreign body aspiration.