Navi Mumbai, 01 December 2022: The parents of Araina, residents of Navi Mumbai, were shocked on a Wednesday night when their six-year-old daughter swallowed a foreign object. They immediately took her to Hiranandani Hospital, Vashi-A Fortis Network Hospital, after she started complaining of throat pain. Araina, while playing, had swallowed a marble-like object, post which her parents rushed her to the hospital at 10:15pm. An X-ray and CT scan were conducted immediately by the emergency medical team to decide the treatment plan for the young patient.

Dr Jignesh Gandhi, Senior Consultant General Surgery, Fortis Hiranandani Hospital, Vashi said, "Children swallowing foreign objects is nowadays a very normal occurrence as they have inquisitive minds. In such a situation, it is essential to act quickly because if the object is lodged in the body for many hours, it can become disastrous. In this case, we were unaware of the type of object stuck in the patient's body, which is why time and treatment plan was crucial. The biggest challenge was removing the object through an endoscopic approach so that surgery on the patient could be avoided, and at the same time does not cause perforation due to the object being lodged in the patient's throat."

The scan results of the patient showed the position and depth of the object in the upper part of the food pipe. Since the patient was so young, the challenging part was to remove the object with minimal invasion and, at the same time, not risk the child's life in any manner. Keeping this in mind, the decision to perform an endoscopy was taken immediately. The patient was given general anesthesia to minimize the pain and reduce the risk. After this, an endoscopy was performed, and the foreign object was removed within two minutes, which saved the patient's life. The challenging part of the case was that if the foreign body made of ceramic had remained stuck in the throat any longer (it had been in her body for close to three hours), it could have impacted her overall well-being.

The patient was discharged after a day, and the entire process, from the hospital admission to removing the foreign object from her body, took only 20 minutes. Since the parents rushed the child to the hospital, it was possible to treat her on time as this situation could not be tackled at home and could have proved hazardous to the child.

About Fortis Healthcare Limited  

Fortis Healthcare Limited – an IHH Healthcare Berhad Company – is a leading integrated healthcare services provider in India. It is one of the largest healthcare organizations in the country with 27 healthcare facilities (including projects under development), 4100 operational beds and over 419 diagnostics centres (including JVs). Fortis is present in India, United Arab Emirates (UAE) & Sri Lanka. The Company is listed on the BSE Ltd and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India. It draws strength from its partnership with global major and parent company, IHH, to build upon its culture of world-class patient care and superlative clinical excellence. Fortis employs 23,000 people (including SRL) who share its vision of becoming the world’s most trusted healthcare network. Fortis offers a full spectrum of integrated healthcare services ranging from clinics to quaternary care facilities and a wide range of ancillary services