A nine-year-old boy from West Bengal, who accidentally swallowed a 4-centimetre-long needle, was saved by doctors at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, officials said on Friday.
The doctors at the department of pediatrics of the medical facility performed bronchoscopic intervention to remove a stitching needle lodged in the lungs. The delicate medical procedure to extract the foreign object was conducted without resorting to open surgery, said the health authorities.
The child was brought to AIIMS Bhubaneswar after aspirating a stitching needle, approximately 4 CM in length, into the left lower lobe bronchus lateral segment of the lungs.
An expert team of pediatricians, including Dr. Rashmi Ranjan Das, Dr. Krishna M Gulla, Dr. Ketan, and Dr. Ramakrishna, skillfully performed bronchoscopic interventions to extract the needle without encountering any complications.
The entire process lasted for about an hour. Though it required thoracotomy, we avoided life-threatening complications. Such a surgery might have jeopardised the boy’s health, potentially requiring the removal of a portion of the lungs, said Dr. Rashmi Ranjan Das.
The patient, admitted for four days post-procedure, is now in stable condition and on the path to recovery. The AIIMS is equipped with the expertise to conduct invasive flexible bronchoscopy for the removal of sharp airway foreign bodies, Das added.
The department of pediatrics, equipped with a pediatric bronchoscopic facility from 2021, continues to be a vital tool for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. This facility has proven instrumental in emergency foreign body removal, introducing a novel approach to challenging pediatric cases related to respiratory diseases.