BENGALURU: In a rare and high-risk medical case, doctors at Aster Whitefield Hospital saved a two-year-old girl from permanent lung damage by removing a food particle stuck in her airway for over two weeks.
The girl from Kolkata suffered from persistent cough, rapid breathing, and falling oxygen levels after a chickpea got stuck in her left bronchus, the tube that carries air to the lung.
She was brought to the hospital in critical condition. Nearly 75% of her left main bronchus was blocked, restricting airflow to the lung. An earlier attempt to clear the blockage failed, increasing the risk of infection, inflammation and long-term lung damage.
Doctors said if left untreated, the obstruction could have led to permanent lung injury, recurring infections, or a condition known as bronchiectasis, where the airways become scarred and widened. A scan and flexible bronchoscopy revealed the presence of the food item in the airway wall, surrounded by granulation tissue, an inflammatory response triggered by prolonged irritation. This made traditional removal tools ineffective as the object (food part) was smooth, slippery, and prone to breaking apart.
To overcome these challenges, the hospital’s paediatric pulmonology team led by Dr Tejaswi Chandra performed a rare procedure using a combination of Cryoadhesion, a freezing technique that temporarily sticks to the object and basket retrieval, a method used in complex adult cases. “This dual technique is rarely used in toddlers. It allowed us to remove the object safely without causing any further damage,” Dr Tejaswi said.
The surgery, performed under general anaesthesia, ended in over 30 minutes. The child made a dramatic recovery. Within 24 hours, she began breathing normally, regained her appetite, and returned to her playful self.