목적: To investigate the methods of diagnosis of fish bone foreign body in esophagus and suggest a diagnostic protocol. 방법:A prospective study was performed on 286 patients with a history of fish bone foreign body impaction. Among them, 88 patients had negative findings in the oral cavity and laryngopharynx. Subsequent radiologic assessment of these patients included plain radiography and multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). Sixty-six patients showed positive findings in the esophagus, and an attempt was made to remove the obstruction using transnasal esophagoscopy. 결과:In 66 patients, a fish bone foreign body was detected in the esophagus by MDCT. In contrast, plain radiography detected a foreign body in only 30 patients. The overall detection rate of MDCT for the fish bone foreign bodies was 98.2%, and plain radiography was 45.5%. The detection rates of simple fish bones (97.5% vs. 35.0%) and gill bones (100% vs. 54.5%) were significantly different between MDCT and plain radiography. However, jaw bones had a detection rate of 100% with both methods. The fish bone foreign bodies were commonly located in the upper esophagus (n = 65, 98.5%), followed by the lower esophagus (n = 1, 1.5%). 결론:MDCT is useful method of the esophageal fish bone foreign body. Therefore, the MDCT should be considered as first choice technique for the diagnosis of esophageal fish bone foreign body.