Pune: A one-year-old child’s life was saved in the city recently after doctors successfully removed a stone lodged in his airway at the ear, nose and throat (ENT) department of Sassoon General Hospital.Hospital sources told TOI that the incident occurred when the child swallowed a small bit of stone while playing two days prior to arriving at the hospital. He was first taken to a local doctor, where parents were reassured about the passage of the stone in his bowel movements.However, the very next day, the boy developed episodes of intermittent cough. Worried, his parents immediately brought him to Sassoon hospital, where the ENT team led by Professor Dr Rahul Telang examined the child.Telang said, “An X-ray examination revealed the radio opaque foreign body located at the bifurcation of the trachea reaching up to the carina (base of the windpipe) and extending into the right main bronchus (a vertical airway). We immediately performed an emergency rigid bronchoscopy to remove the stone from the baby’s respiratory tract on March 30.”The procedure typically involves using a hollow, metal tube to examine and treat central airway disorders.Telang added, “During the operation, doctors carefully located and successfully removed the stone from the child’s airway.”The doctor further explained, “Had the stone not been removed immediately and left inside the airway, it could have caused serious tissue damage and airway obstruction.”The child’s condition is now reported to be stable and satisfactory, said doctors.
