Chidambaram: A team of doctors at the Cuddalore District Government Medical College Hospital in Chidambaram’s Annamalai Nagar achieved a feat by removing a pen cap that had entered a life-saving emergency airway.
A 15-year-old boy who accidentally inhaled a pen cap into his windpipe was admitted to the intensive care unit on the night of Aug. 13 for emergency treatment at the Cuddalore District Government Medical College Hospital in Annamalai Nagar.
When he arrived at the hospital, the boy was restless and had severe shortness of breath, stridor, and wheezing. These are symptoms that can cause severe and life-threatening airway obstruction.
In the emergency CT scan performed immediately, it was confirmed that a pen cap was lodged in the right main bronchus and extended as far as the right lower lobe bronchus, where it was deeply embedded. Because the foreign body was lodged very deeply and tightly, removing it was extremely challenging.
Given the difficult location of the foreign body and the possibility of a life-threatening airway obstruction, this treatment required great skill, technical expertise, and extensive experience in the procedure.
After consulting with the anesthesiology team and with their approval, the patient was immediately taken for emergency life-saving foreign body removal treatment.
After this highly challenging treatment, the pen cap lodged in the boy’s nose was successfully removed by the dedicated team of operating theatre (OT) staff, under the coordination of Assistant Professors Dr. Santhosh Madhavan and Dr. Seetharaman from the Department of Anesthesiology, together with the eye, ear, and nose medical specialists led by the Head of the ENT Department, Professor Dr. Rutha Shanmugam, along with Professor Dr. Shanmugam and Professor and Deputy Dean Dr. Balaji Swaminathan.
Following the opening of the trachea, the boy’s condition improved significantly. He is now well, stable, and comfortable, with no breathing difficulty of any kind.
Regarding this surgery, the college principal N. Bhaskaran said:
'The success of this treatment, especially in handling this life-threatening and highly complex tracheal emergency, was made possible mainly by the excellent coordination and teamwork between the anesthesiology and operating room teams.
The boy’s parents expressed their heartfelt and sincere gratitude to the ENT, anesthesiology, and operating room team for providing timely emergency treatment to their son and successfully saving his life,” he said.
The medical team that performed the above surgery was praised and congratulated by the Dean and Special Officer of the Medical College, Dr. N. Bhaskar, and the Hospital Superintendent, Dr. Junior Sundaresh.