Girl with neck muscle necrosis due to fish bone stuck in throat
Doctors in Ho Chi Minh City opened the neck to drain pus and remove necrotic parts to save an 11-month-old girl who had a snakehead fish bone stuck in her throat.
A girl living in Dong Thap was fed snakehead fish porridge by her mother, suddenly vomited and coughed.
The baby cried constantly, drooled a lot, and refused to eat or drink. The local doctor treated him for sore throat and digestive problems, but there was no improvement. After 5 days, the baby still had a high fever and was transferred to the City Children's Hospital (HCMC) on March 15.
The ENT doctor noted that the symptoms were not consistent with pharyngitis, so he performed blood tests and a CT scan of the neck. The results showed that the baby had a severe infection, with many large abscesses with pus and gas in the back of the throat, occupying more than 2/3 of the neck volume. The baby was immediately transferred for emergency surgery.
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The neck muscle tissue was necrotizing and bleeding during surgery.Photo provided by hospital. |
After 3 hours of surgery, Dr. Bach Thien Phuong, Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, drained 50 ml of green pus from the back of the throat. Because the abscess spread to the deep neck cavity on the left side, the doctor had to open the side of the neck to drain all the pus, scrape off the inflamed tissue around the thyroid gland, and remove the necrotic sternothyroid muscle.
Fish bone stuck in the throat is a common accident in children. Because the bone is usually quite thin, it is difficult to detect it on X-rays. Only an endoscopy of the throat or hypopharynx can see and remove it.
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The baby girl is cared for after surgery.Photo provided by hospital. |
Parents need to be careful when feeding their children fish with small bones such as snakehead fish, perch, catfish, shrimp shells...
If you see your child suddenly vomit a lot after eating, complain of sore throat, drool a lot, stop eating or drinking, have a high fever... you should take them to a pediatric ENT specialist for examination and early detection to avoid leaving it for too long, causing complications and endangering their life.