I have come to really like these devices for removing foreign bodies. When combined with an operating otoscope or a nasal speculum, it makes removing most any foreign body a trivial exercise. Give them a try next time instead of reaching for the alligator forceps.
A very handy tool, but I wish the price would come down; my hospital insists that Fogarty embolectomy catheters are less expensive, so that’s what we use in our ER for ear/nose foreign body extractions. The Fogartys aren’t as handy as the Katz extractors due to their length (they’re more difficult to use one-handed), but do the job just the same.
I do not know the exact cost of the Katz extractors, but I would be shocked to find out that they are more expensive than a Fogarty catheter. I will look into it.
I used this for the first time to remove a bead out of a boys ear and we were successful. The only thing I did not like, was the uncertainty of knowing how far past the bead I could pass the catheter without pushing up against (or perforating) the TM. There is still a bit of a “blind” element which bothered me. Similarly, I was uncertain how much I could inflate the balloon tip. I tried to use minimal inflation but then the catheter slipped back out without the bead, so I had to inflate a bit more to get it to work. It may take just a bit of experience getting to know how much to inflate for a child’s ear canal.