Nghe An: 12-month-old girl chokes on coconut meat, life in danger

At 1:50 p.m. on April 10, Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital admitted patient NTL (12 months old) from Thanh Tung commune, Thanh Chuong district to the hospital in a state of difficulty breathing and wheezing.

After a preliminary examination, the patient was diagnosed with acute laryngotracheobronchitis and was admitted to the Cardiology Department for treatment. However, the doctors found that the diagnosis did not match the patient's clinical symptoms.

Endoscopic images show a foreign object lodged in the patient's right vocal cord. Photo: Thanh Hung

Suspecting that the child had choked on a foreign object causing difficulty breathing, the doctors investigated and exploited the patient's family history but there was no information about the child choking on foreign objects or choking on food. Performing soft-tissue laryngoscopy, the doctors discovered an image of a foreign object stuck in the patient's right vocal cord.

Determining this to be a dangerous emergency case, the patient could have fatal laryngospasm at any time, the patient was immediately given an endoscopy to remove the foreign object.

At 5:15 p.m. the same day, doctors successfully removed a white foreign object measuring 0.5 x 1cm (a piece of coconut pulp) from the child's larynx.

Currently, patient NT L has passed the critical stage, no longer has difficulty breathing, and is continuing to be monitored and treated at the ENT department...

A 0.5 x 1cm piece of coconut pulp after being picked out. Photo: Thanh Hung

Recently, Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital has received many cases of children choking on foreign objects leading to life-threatening situations. Parents need to be more careful when feeding their children and playing with small toys that can easily cause choking in the airways, endangering the children./.