Dr Shashikant Mhashal, head of the ENT department at the hospital who operated on Aradhana Meghini, said, "She was admitted in a private hospital where an X-Ray revealed that the screw was stuck in the bronchos (windpipe). She had complaints of cough and also breathing issues."
For almost two months, a four-year-old girl from Jogeshwari had to live with a screw stuck in her windpipe after she swallowed it by mistake. The screw, which is 1.5cm-long, was removed by rigid bronchoscopy procedure at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run RN Cooper Hospital in Andheri on Wednesday.
Dr Shashikant Mhashal, head of the ENT department at the hospital who operated on Aradhana Meghini, said, "She was admitted in a private hospital where an X-Ray revealed that the screw was stuck in the bronchos (windpipe). She had complaints of cough and also breathing issues."
Mhashal said that surprisingly no doctor could detect the root cause of her recurrent cough and cold problem. "She had a history of ingesting thing. She ingested the screw two months back while she was playing with friends. A foreign body entering the windpipe leads rigorous coughing. Her parents took her to a local doctor as she started coughing. The doctor, however, sent them back by prescribing a cough and cold syrup," said Mhashal.
While the screw continued to remain embedded in the windpipe, Aradhana had recurrent cough and cold and complained of breathlessness. "Every time they went to the doctor, the girl was prescribed cough and cold syrup. A few days back, when she was taken to another private hospital, an X-Ray was done and that showed the presence of a foreign body in the right bronchos. She was then referred to us yesterday," said Mhashal.
The doctors decided not to delay any further and took her up for surgery on Wednesday. Mhashal added that since the screw was present for almost two months, the risk of bleeding and damaging the windpipe during the procedure was high. "Also, there was collapse of the lung and it wasn't functioning properly. This made the surgery challenging," he said.
Through endoscopy, the doctors did rigid bronchoscopy and removed the screw. "It took us around 40 minutes. She is doing good and she's stable," said Mhashal.
Aradhana will be kept in the hospital for the next few days till her intravenous antibiotic course is over. "Since the foreign body remained there for two months and she had cough indicating infection, we have put her on antibiotics," said Mhashal.
Foreign body aspiration can be a life-threatening emergency in case the aspirated object leads to nearly complete obstruction of the airway, leading to asphyxia and death. Most often, the aspirated object is food. Commonly retrieved objects include seeds, nuts, bone fragments, nails, small toys, coins, pins, medical instrument fragments, and dental appliances.
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