Needle Removed from 9-Yr-Old Child’s Lungs by Doctors of AIIMS Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: The life of a nine-year-old boy from West Bengal, who had accidentally swallowed a 4-centimetre-long needle, was saved by doctors at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar through bronchoscopic intervention.

The doctors at the Department of Paediatrics of the AIIMS Bhubaneswar removed the stitching needle lodged in the lungs of the child through bronchoscopic intervention. The foreign object was taken out without opting for open surgery.

The approximately 4 CM long needle, was lodged in the left lower lobe bronchus lateral segment of the lungs of the child.

An expert team of paediatricians of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, including Dr Rashmi Ranjan Das, Dr Krishna M Gulla, Dr Ketan, and Dr Ramakrishna, skillfully performed bronchoscopic interventions to extract the needle.

The entire process lasted for about an hour. Though it required thoracotomy, the life-threatening complications of open surgery was avoided, which could have required the removal of a portion of the lungs.

The patient is now in stable condition and on the path to recovery. The Department of pediatrics of AIIMS Bhubaneswar is equipped with a pediatric bronchoscopic facility from 2021. This facility has proven instrumental in emergency foreign body removal, introducing a novel approach to challenging pediatric cases related to respiratory diseases.