Background/Aims: To investigate the clinical situation, treatment methods, and clinical predictors of surgical intervention in children with magnetic foreign bodies in the digestive tract. Materials and Methods: From January 2019 to June 2022, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 72 children who ingested magnetic foreign bodies inadvertently in our hospital, including their general information, admissions, clinical manifestations, and treatment methods, as well as pertinent literature and statistical data. Following software processing, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the independent risk factors of this study, and the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to evaluate their predictive performance. Results: Among the 72 children who accidentally ingested magnetic foreign bodies, 59 (86.8%) ingested foreign bodies, with an average of 3.42 days and 11.03 foreign bodies. The predominant symptoms were nausea and vomiting. 19 cases (31.2%), 33 cases (54.1%) with abdominal pain; 9 cases (14.8%) with peritoneal irritation; 13 cases (21.3%) within 24 hours with foreign body movement. Treatment: conservative in 16 cases (22.2%), gastroscope in 19 cases (26.4%), and surgery in 37 cases (51.4%), with gastrointestinal perforation occurring in 26 cases (70.3%). ROC (AUC = 0.808) for predicting surgical treatment plans for children with magnetic foreign body ingestion. Conclusion: We found that nausea、vomiting and intermittent abdominal pain significantly increased the likelihood of surgical treatment in children undergoing surgery.
