Custard apple seeds in 3 year old child's airway

(Baonghean.vn) - On September 1, Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital successfully performed a surgery to remove very dangerous foreign objects from the airway and esophagus in two children.

The first patient is BDK, 24 months old, from Quynh Nghia commune, Quynh Luu district. K was admitted to the hospital at 11am with symptoms of not being able to eat or drink for 3 days. The family took him to the doctor and discovered a radiopaque image of his neck.

The foreign object removed from BDK's esophagus was a zipper. Photo: Thanh Son

At the ENT Department, doctors used anesthesia to perform an esophagoscopy to remove the foreign object. The procedure was difficult because the patient was young, the esophageal cage was narrowed and swollen due to the large metal object, and it was discovered late. After a period of effort, the doctors were able to remove the foreign object from the child's esophagus. The object removed was a metal zipper.

The second patient is TLĐ, 33 months old, from Hung Dong Commune, Vinh City. He was admitted to the hospital at 4:30 p.m. with symptoms of difficulty breathing and cyanosis after eating custard apple. His family said he was eating custard apple when he started coughing and choking.

Custard apple seeds entered the airway of TLĐ. Photo: Thanh Son.

Here, the doctors performed a bronchoscopy on the child. After 10 minutes from the time the patient arrived for examination and was admitted to the hospital, the doctors of the ENT department successfully removed a custard apple seed from the child's airway.

Doctor CKII Dinh Xuan Huong, Deputy Director, Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, warns: It is very dangerous to let children play and eat small foods and objects that can easily get stuck in the mouth. When a foreign object enters the esophagus or airway of a child, if not treated promptly, it can lead to death. Parents need to be careful when feeding their children and keep small objects out of reach of children./.

Thanh Son