Faridabad: Timely intervention of specialists at Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad helped save the life of a 2-year-old toddler whose breathing passage was blocked by some aspirated groundnut shell fragments. This was the first of its kind case in Faridabad, where pediatric rigid bronchoscopy was performed in a toddler.
Though incidences of airway obstruction are common in children/toddlers, this was a seemingly challenging case as several fragments of this hard foreign body were scattered across the bronchus and the child came after 3 days of aspiration which meant a significant amount of airway edema.
When the parents found out that the baby was becoming distressed and in extreme discomfort, was rushed to the emergency room of Fortis Hospital Faridabad, where the emergency doctors resuscitated the patient and alerted the ENT & Pediatric team. The medical team conducted a chest x-ray to view the inside of the air passages which was followed by a 30-minute rigid bronchoscopy procedure to dislodge all the fragmented shells safely. The patient was discharged the next day, after another bronchoscopy, confirming that there were no residues left in the airways.
The most complicating and challenging features of this case were that the foreign body was in the form of particulate form rather than a single piece. And since the fragmented particles had spread across the smallest of the airways (tertiary bronchus and bronchioles) it was hard to access the area even though the bronchoscope. Further, the delayed presentation (after 3 days) implied extensive airway swelling and pneumonitis. Despite various challenges complete team including paediatrics, anaesthesia, emergency, and the entire hospital administration were up on their toes for support. Fortunately, the team was successfully able to completely remove the nutshell fragments and the patient made a swift recovery. With the advent of the latest technology, an Innovative combined approach where the paediatric flexible scope was used to facilitate proximal migration of particles from the tertiary bronchus and later removed with the rigid scope and optical forceps. “Rigid pediatric bronchoscopy is a state of art procedure which requires a significant level of experience and expertise.” Said Dr Aparna Mahajan, Consultant ENT, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad
Such cases must be attended to immediately as delay could increase the risk of airway perforation, infections and in some cases, even death. In this case, prompt action by the medical team had saved the life of the toddler w. Since it can be a medical challenge to manage such patients, it is imperative that parents need to be vigilant and keep a hawk-eye on the children to help save from any untoward emergency.
“Our aim is to provide the best-in-class treatment technology and in order to enhance our standard we are continuously adding the best-in-class equipment and technologies. With the combination of advanced technology and an experienced team of doctors, I am very confident that we will continue to deliver the best healthcare outcomes in this region. With this combination, over a period of more than, 37 years, we have been able to achieve ground-breaking and revolutionary results.” said Dr Ajay Dogra, Facility Director, Fortis Escorts Hospital, Faridabad