Shocking: Doctors at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Friday successfully removed a tablet and its aluminium blister foil stuck in the food pipe of a man. Doctors at the hospital succeeded in the operation using the innovative endoscopic technique. A 61-year-old man with severe chest discomfort came to the emergency. According to reports, the man accidentally swallowed a tablet with aluminium blister foil cover.
Man accidentally swallowed a tablet
According to Anil Arora, Chairman, Institute of Liver, Gastroenterology and Pancreaticobiliary Sciences, SGRH, a 61-year-old man came to the emergency room with severe chest discomfort after accidentally swallowing a tablet with an aluminium blister foil cover. It got stuck in the upper esophagus and he was unable to swallow anything. An endoscopy was immediately done which revealed a complicated situation, the statement said.
Tablet-intact foil was stuck in the narrowest portion of the upper esophagus
Dr Shrihari Anikhindi, Consultant Gastroenterologist and Therapeutic Endoscopist, said, “The tablet-intact foil was stuck in the narrowest portion of the upper esophagus which did not allow any room for endoscopic maneuvering and removal." The aluminium foil was very rigid and had sharp edges. Hence, any forceful removal could have easily injured the esophagus leading to devastating complications like perforation, bleeding, mediastinal infection and sepsis which would have required emergency surgery with its attendant complications, he said.
How doctors removed the tablet?
“Since direct removal from the site of impaction (esophagus) was dangerous, we gently and slowly pushed the tablet with intact foil into the stomach. This gives us ample room for maneuvering special accessories," said Dr Shrihari Anikhindi. "Once it was inside the stomach, we punctured the aluminium foil using a special endoscopic needle and pushed saline under pressure which dissolved the tablet and all the contents came out of the foil in the stomach cavity," the doctor said.
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As the foil contents were now emptied, it allowed the doctors folded it. This reduced the diameter and inverted the dangerous sharp edges. Using a special accessory called endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) cap attached to the endoscope, they were able to safely remove the folded aluminium foil out through the mouth, it said.
Second-time doctors encoutered such a case
“Surprisingly, this is the second time we encountered such a case and have successfully used this approach on both occasions. Such cases have not been reported in the literature," Arora said. "Since there is no standardised approach to such rare impacted foreign bodies, we had to think out of the box," Arora added.
(with inputs from PTI)
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