Noida: A one-and-a-half-year-old boy was saved after doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Child Health (PGICH) removed a metal nut and bolt lodged in his food pipe, nearly four hours after he accidentally swallowed it.The child was rushed to the hospital around 4pm on Tuesday after he complained of difficulty in swallowing. An X-ray revealed that the metallic object, measuring around 2cm, was stuck in the mid-oesophagus. Doctors said the foreign body had remained lodged there for nearly three to four hours and the child could develop serious complications if it was not removed promptly.“The toddler was taken to the operation theatre and administered general anaesthesia. A rigid oesophagoscopy was performed, a minimally invasive procedure in which a specialised metal tube is passed through the mouth into the food pipe to see and retrieve the foreign object without making any external incision,” said Dr Abhishek Gupta, additional professor of the department of paediatric otorhinolaryngology at the hospital.Doctors said timely intervention prevented potentially life-threatening complications such as perforation of the oesophagus, infection, bleeding or airway obstruction. The child remained stable after the procedure, recovered well and was discharged soon.“Foreign body ingestion is common among toddlers, who often explore objects by putting them into their mouths. While many swallowed objects pass through the digestive tract on their own, sharp, large or metallic objects lodged in the oesophagus require immediate medical attention as delays can lead to severe injury,” said Gupta.Doctors advised parents to keep small household items such as nuts, bolts, coins, button batteries and toy parts out of children’s reach. They also cautioned against attempting to remove a swallowed object at home or forcing the child to eat or drink in an effort to push it down and instead directed them to seek emergency medical care immediately.
