Infant swallows cork, removed surgically

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: In a miraculous rescue, doctors at Fortis Hospital, Nagarbhavi, successfully helped save the life of an 8-month-old baby, who had accidentally swallowed a 2 cm bottle cork, while playing. Dr Narendranath

A along with Dr HK Susheen Dutt, both ENT specialists removed the cork with the help of laryngoscopy. With the correct diagnosis and timely medical intervention, the baby was saved. After accidentally swallowing the cork, the male infant had gone breathless and become unresponsive.

He was taken to three hospitals for a week, where the doctors suspected the child had a lower respiratory tract infection and prescribed nebulizer treatments. However, this did not improve the baby’s health, as he developed high fever and was going through severe pain.

There was a continuous grunting sound from his throat, and he started feeding less and became less active with each passing day. It was then that the baby’s family brought him to Fortis Nagarbhavi, where the doctors diagnosed the child and removed the cork.

Soon after, the baby was relief and was discharged the very next day. Giving details of the case, Dr Narendranath said, “Upon admission, we had noticed that the baby had audible mild grunts while breathing.

After regular examination of the throat, we felt something was not right, so we conducted a 70-degree video laryngoscopy and discovered a large whitish foreign body (rubber cork of bottle cap) in the hypopharynx (lower part of the throat) at laryngeal inlet partially obstructing the airway (windpipe ) .

The child was immediately shifted to the operation theatre, where the cork was removed successfully. Any delay in the procedure could have led to upper esophageal complications, chest infection, or a life-threatening complication.”

Dr Dutt said, “Great care must be taken while handling an infant and parents must be vigilant in keeping such items out of their reach. Foreign bodies taken by the oral route can lead to severe morbidity and mortality by entering into the respiratory and gastrointestinal systems."