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A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy who swallowed a pen top had a narrow escape after he underwent major lung surgery at the country’s main hospital yesterday.
Indian Mohammed Ehzan accidentally swallowed the piece of plastic, measuring less than an inch, while taking part in an online lesson from his home in Juffair.
He started coughing and feeling breathless and needed to be taken to Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) where doctors found the object had lodged in his lungs.
A bronchoscopy procedure was carried out twice in failed bids to extract the object which meant surgery was the only option.
Mohammed’s father M Firoz told the GDN that the fifth grader at the Asian School Bahrain was attending online class at around 10.30am when he accidentally swallowed his pen top.
“Until around noon, he didn’t say anything – but then he started coughing and crying and told us about the pen top.
“Shortly afterwards he had trouble breathing and we took him to SMC emergency where they did an X-ray and found the top stuck in his lungs.”
The medics performed the first bronchoscopy, an attempt which lasted for almost four hours, on Thursday night.
In bronchoscopy, a specialist lung doctor – a pulmonologist – inserts a thin tube, called a bronchoscope, through the nose or mouth, down to the throat and the lungs.
When that failed, doctors moved the child on to a ventilator until they could try again. The move, however, had to be delayed for 48 hours due to his young age.
After the unsuccessful second attempt Mohammed went under the knife. “Doctors had to cut open his lungs and trachea to take it out,” explained Mr Firoz.
“We thank all who prayed with us and now he is in the intensive care unit under observation for the next 72 hours.
“I wouldn’t wish any other child or parent to have to go through this trauma.”
The 40-year-old, a resident for 20 years from Thalassery, Kerala, works in a cafeteria and lives with his wife, Foumidha. They also have a younger son, four-year-old Mohammed Esfaz.
Experts yesterday warned of the dangers of children swallowing pen tops and other small objects leading to what, in medical terms, is called foreign body aspiration (FBA).
Royal Bahrain Hospital Paediatrics and Neonatology Specialist Dr Srinivasababu Subramanian explained FBA as a ‘potentially life-threatening event’ as it can block respiration by obstructing the airway, impairing oxygenation and ventilation.
Awareness
“FBA is a common cause of mortality and morbidity in children, especially in those aged two and under,” he said.
“Approximately 80 per cent of paediatric FBA episodes occur in children aged under three, with the peak incidence between one and two years of age.”
The doctor said that education and awareness were vital to prevent FBA in children – highlighting items like marbles, rubber balls and latex balloons as particularly dangerous in small hands.
Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Clinic specialist paediatrician Dr Kunjimoosa Parappummal believes Mohammed had a ‘lucky escape’.
“Usually the object goes into the stomach and exits through faeces or gets stuck in the lungs and the body immediately responds with a protective coughing mechanism,” he said.
“It is highly unlikely that such objects come out with a cough and if a bronchoscopy procedure fails, major surgery is the only option.
“This was indeed a lucky escape for the child.”
raji@gdn.com.bh
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