Doctors at Hyderabad hospital remove pen cap stuck in man's lungs for 21 years

Hyderabad: Doctors at a private super-speciality hospital here on Wednesday said they had successfully removed a pen cap that had been stuck in a man's lungs for 21 years.

The 26-year-old man from Karimnagar, Telangana, had unknowingly carried the pen cap in his lungs for 21 years after accidentally swallowing it at the age of five, KIMS Hospital said in a release.

Over the past month, he had been experiencing a persistent cough and unexplained weight loss. His condition worsened significantly over the last ten days, making it difficult for him to sleep.

Upon consulting doctors at KIMS, a CT scan was conducted, revealing an infection in the lower left lung. He was then referred to KIMS Hospital, Kondapur, Hyderabad, where a further CT scan was performed.

"When the patient arrived, we conducted a CT scan, which showed a lump-like structure inside his lungs. We initially assumed it was an obstruction causing his persistent cough. However, during the procedure, we discovered that it was actually a pen cap lodged inside," said Consultant Clinical and Interventional Pulmonologist Dr Shubhakar Nadella.

Midway through the procedure, the doctors contacted the patient’s elder brother and asked if the patient had ever swallowed anything as a child.

The brother recalled that, at the age of five, the patient had accidentally swallowed a pen cap.

At the time, he was taken to a doctor, who conducted an examination but found nothing abnormal, assuming that the foreign object had naturally passed out of the body, the release stated.

The procedure to remove the pen cap took nearly three hours, Dr Nadella said.

"Using flexible bronchoscopy, we first carefully removed the tissue buildup, lymph nodes, and muscle formations around the object. Once the surrounding area was cleared, we successfully extracted the pen cap," he explained.

The prolonged presence of the foreign object had caused lung damage, but the doctors managed to restore the affected area with antibiotic treatment, and the patient has now fully recovered, he added.