New Delhi: A team of doctors from a Mumbai hospital gave a fresh lease of life to a 10-year-old girl who had accidentally swallowed a large metallic pin with a sharp end two years ago. A team led by ENT doctors Dr Kshitij Shah and Dr Shalaka Dighe, ably supported by paediatric pulmonologist Dr Sagar Warankar and an anaesthesia team led by Dr Pramod Kale, performed a successful surgery at the hospital to remove the pin from the girl’s lung. The patient recovered and was discharged within 48 hours.
Naira Shah (name changed) from Mumbai had accidentally swallowed the metallic pin two years ago. An X-ray of the abdomen had failed to reveal the foreign body and the incident was forgotten about, until Naira started complaining of a dry cough and was taken to Zen Multispeciality Hospital for further investigations.
“To our utter surprise, an X-ray of the chest revealed a metallic foreign body in the lower airway on the left side. A CT scan of the chest was done to precisely locate the foreign body. After an initial attempt at removal of the foreign body by flexible bronchoscopy, a decision was made to perform a rigid bronchoscopy,” said ENT surgeon Dr Kshitij Shah.
“Rigid bronchoscopy is a procedure done to gain access to the patient’s airway using a hollow metallic tube under general anaesthesia. The foreign body was successfully removed without any complications and without an external scar on the body after an hour-long surgery,” informed ENT surgeon Dr Shalaka Dighe, adding, “The child was hale and hearty in a couple of hours after surgery. Failure to remove the foreign body via bronchoscopy would have meant a very morbid open surgery (thoracotomy) to remove it.”
“For over 1.5 years, Naira (name changed) was fine and did not encounter any problems. But suddenly she started coughing. We panicked, feared Covid and took her to Zen Hospital. We are thankful to Zen Hospital for promptly treating our child. We urge other parents like us to keep sharp or metallic objects like pins or coins away from their children,” concluded the patient’s father, Sanjiv Shah (name changed).