Mango stem removed from 8 month old baby's airway

Dị vật là một cuống xoài đã được lấy ra - Ảnh: Bệnh viện cung cấp — The foreign object was a mango stem that was removed - Photo: Provided by the hospital

On April 28, according to information from Children's Hospital 2, Ho Chi Minh City, doctors and nurses from Children's Hospital 2 assisted doctors and nurses from Children's Hospital City to successfully remove a foreign body from the airway (a mango stem) of an 8-month-old boy using a flexible endoscope system.

Many children choke on foreign objects

This 8-month-old boy was admitted to the City Children's Hospital due to a foreign body in his airway. The boy underwent bronchoscopy to remove the foreign body twice, but because the foreign body was located deep in the right lower lobe bronchus, accessing and removing the foreign body was difficult.

After consultation, the leaders of Children's Hospital 2 sent an endoscopy team including a respiratory doctor, an ENT doctor, a bronchoscopy system using a flexible endoscope and necessary equipment to support Children's Hospital City.

With the cooperation, the doctors successfully removed the foreign object, which was the stem of the mango. Currently, the patient's condition is stable and he is still being treated and monitored.

Before being hospitalized, this boy was eating at home and his mother gave him a mango to play with.

The baby put it in his mouth and suddenly started coughing and crying. His mother carried him on her shoulder and patted his back to calm him down.

After seeing that the baby stopped coughing and crying, the mother let the baby monitor the baby at home. In the morning, the baby had difficulty breathing, had a cyanotic attack and was taken by the family to a lower-level hospital. There, the baby was intubated and transferred to a higher-level hospital for treatment.

Previously, Children's Hospital 2 also successfully treated two cases of primary school-age children with foreign bodies in the airways due to inhaling loose pieces of school supplies.

The first case is a 7-year-old girl named N.D., residing in Binh Duong. Her mother said that while playing with her siblings at home, D. bit the eraser on a pen and accidentally swallowed it.

After that, baby D. choked, coughed a lot, did not vomit, and had abdominal pain. Family members observed that the baby had increasing difficulty breathing, swelling in the neck and face, and took him to the provincial hospital for initial examination and treatment.

The baby was transferred to Children's Hospital 2 and was diagnosed with a foreign body in the airway, pneumothorax, and pneumomediastinum. Baby D. was quickly endoscopically removed the foreign body and placed in a ventilation tube. After nearly a week of treatment, the doctor found baby D. stable and discharged him from the hospital.

Another case is a 7-year-old boy in Binh Thuan province. During recess at school, he and his friends were joking and biting the tip of a ballpoint pen to get the click part.

Because of choking, the child began to have difficulty breathing and was taken to the nearest medical facility by the school, then transferred to Children's Hospital 2. The patient was urgently given an endoscopy.

Because the glottis was severely damaged and swollen, it was very difficult to access and remove the foreign object. The doctors successfully removed the foreign object, helping the baby overcome the critical condition. Currently, the baby is stable and continues to be monitored.

Foreign bodies in the airways are common in children.

Dr. Le Thi Thanh Thao - Deputy Head of Respiratory Department 1, Children's Hospital 2, member of the support team at Children's Hospital in the above case - said that foreign bodies in the airways are a common dangerous accident in children, especially children under 3 years old.

Because this is the age group that likes to explore and often puts objects in their mouths, or it can happen in older children due to carelessness during daily activities.

Children's Hospital 2 always warns on the hospital's media. However, the hospital still receives cases of children admitted due to foreign bodies in the airway.

Most children are hospitalized in emergency situations, some cases can progress severely, especially threatening their lives or causing serious physical and mental effects on the child.

The children were all treated with care by the hospital's medical staff.

From the above incidents, hospital doctors continue to recommend that parents limit their children's use of small objects.

For older children, families and schools regularly educate and remind them to limit playing with learning tools and small objects, and not to put them in their mouths to avoid the risk of choking.

When a child shows signs of choking on a foreign object, after performing first aid at home, parents need to take the child to a medical facility for timely examination and treatment.

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