St. Emlyn´s - October 21, 2014 by Natalie May
"Deaths and major complications from ingestion are rare. Most button batteries, like other ingested foreign bodies, will pass entirely through the digestive tract as long as they make it out of the oesophagus – beyond the lower oesophageal sphincter the risk of perforation is substantially lower although it is advisable to ensure that these children have some sort of surveillance (many departments x-ray children with batteries in the stomach again 8 hours later; toxbase advises repeat x-ray two days later for batteries not beyond the pylorus on initial radiograph).
Parents of discharged children must have robust safety netting (there is a graphic at the end of this post with suggested advice). Parents need to know exactly what to look out for. If the battery is in the oesophagus then it is a surgical emergency and should be removed as soon as possible. Similarly complications are more likely with larger batteries (specifically those more than 20mm in diameter, as this open access paper from Pediatrics suggests).
Other Insertions
Button batteries in ears and noses should also be removed as soon as possible; don’t leave these kids to wait 4 hours in the waiting room!"
http://stemlynsblog.org/button-batteries/