Abstract: Objective：To assess the effectiveness and complications of rigid endoscopy (RE) and flexible endoscopy (FE) for the extraction of esophageal foreign bodies (FBs) in adults. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the medical records of 171 adult patients with the upper esophageal FB impaction treated at Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China, between January 2008 and December 2012. Results: In the study, 126 patients with the upper esophageal foreign body impaction were treated with RE, while 45 patients received FE. (1)The size of FBs in FE group was the same as RE group （P=0.495, P=0.125）. (2)The period impacted in the esophagus of RE group (25.8±28.6) h was longer than that of FE group (13.9±14.5) h（P=0.009）. (3)71.4% of the patients in RE and 88.9% in FE group went to hospital for treatment within 24 hours from being impacted, while 15.1% in RE group and 8.9% in FE group were between 24 and 48 hours.13.5% in RE and 2.2% in FE group went to hospital beyond 48 hours.(4)The proportion of FBs puncturing into one or two esophageal walls in RE group (67.5%) was higher than that in FE group (35.6%).(5) The positive rates with the upper gastrointestinal barium contrast and chest X-ray or abdominal plain film were 98.3%,23.6% and 100%,14.3% for diagnosing esophageal FBs in RE and FE groups.(6)The successful rate, complication rate and perforation rate were 100%，38.1% and 6.3%and 95.6%，48.9%，and 2.2% in RE and FE groups, respectively with no statistical difference （P>0.05）. Conclusion: Both RE and FE were effective in the extraction of upper esophageal FBs with no difference in the complication and perforation rates. But FE was cheaper and no need for general anesthesia.

Key words: Esophagus, Foreign bodies, Esophagoscopes