A Study on Application of Heimlich Maneuver

Recently Heimlich maneuver has been recommended for the treatment of food choking in Japan. We think that the foreign body in the respiratory tract can not be removed by Heimlich maneuver in case of choking by some Japanese foods. We experimentally packed a small ping-pong ball, a mass of chicken, rice cake and chewing pork into the larynx of a mongrel dog, and tried Heimlich maneuver for removal of foreign bodies. A ping-pong ball and a mass of chicken could be removed by this maneuver, however, a mass of rice cake and chewing pork could not. Accordingly, we tried to remove these foreign bodies by finger maneuver and could remove them successfully. We recommend finger maneuver in case of difficulty in removing the foreign body by Heimlich maneuver.