Metallic pin removed from child’s lung after 2 years at Mumbai hospital

A team of doctors from Zen Multispeciality Hospital in Mumbai gave a new 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, supported by paediatric pulmonologist Dr Sagar Warankar and an anaesthesia team led by Dr Pramod Kale performed a successful surgery at the hospital.

The patient recovered and was discharged within 48 hours.

The 10-year-old girl from Mumbai accidentally swallowed the metallic pin.

An x-ray of the abdomen was done and it failed to reveal the foreign body and everybody eventually forgot about the incident. Her life was smooth until she started complaining of dry cough after 1.5 years.

The patient visited Zen Multispeciality Hospital for further investigation.

“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 Dr Shah.

Dr Dighe said 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.

“The child was hale and hearty a couple of hours after surgery. Failure to remove the foreign body via bronchoscopy would mean a very morbid open surgery (thoracotomy) to remove it.”

“For over 1.5 years, the girl was fine and did not encounter any problems. But suddenly she started coughing. We panicked, feared that she had coronavirus and took her to Zen Hospital. We are thankful to Zen Hospital for promptly treating our child and urge other parents like us to keep away sharp or metallic objects like pins or coins from their children,” said her father.