After 2 weeks persistent coughing: 5-cm hairpin removed from 3-year old’s lung airway

Dr Wasim Kazi pediatrician from kondhwa who diagnosed the case then alerted Dr Sagar Lad ,senior pediatric intensivist at jehangir hospital.She was admitted in paediatric Intensive Care under the supervision of Dr Lad (Consultant Paediatrician) and Dr. Dasmit Singh (Paediatric surgeon).

“The child had already suffered for 2 weeks with resultant infection and swelling of the airways,” said paediatric surgeon Dr Dasmit Singh, under whose supervision the three-year-old was. Dr Singh added that the treatment was started with antibiotics and supportive therapy to reduce swelling and make the removal procedure less risky.

The patient was taken for bronchoscopic removal and put under general anaesthesia (GA). “This procedure is a very high risk procedure requiring precision planning and execution between the paediatric surgeon and anaesthetist in the operation theatre. The airways can get injured or tear while attempting to remove the long and sharp metallic foreign body, or can go into spasm and the risk to life is real,” Dr Singh said adding that a thorough planning was done.

With the patient under GA and positioned appropriately to align the airways and the scope, a specially designed rigid bronchoscope was inserted into the left bronchus. The foreign body was then removed en masse along with the bronchoscope. After the safe extraction and following the procedure, the child’s vital parameters remained stable, making the post-operative recovery uneventful, and the lung infection responded rapidly to treatment.

“After a short course of antibiotics and nebulisation therapy, the child showed significant improvement with resolution of respiratory symptoms and air entry on the left side improved. A repeat chest X-ray also showed improvement,” Dr Singh said and cautioned that children, especially below the age of three years ,are quite susceptible to foreign body aspiration, so they should never get access to any small objects lying around the house.

“Awareness needs to be spread so that parents take special effort to make their homes safe for children. Ingested and aspirated foreign bodies can be quite dangerous for a child. This child survived, but not all babies survive. They can choke with such small objects and that can lead to a life threatening emergency situation,” he pointed out.