HYDERABAD: A 21-year-old man accidentally swallowed a plastic whistle which the obstructed the passage of air to his lungs. Soon after swallowing it, Bikshapathi (21), from Chivvmela mandal, Suryapet district, forcefully tried to vomit it out but failed.
It remained stuck in his bronchus until doctors from ENT and Anesthesia department in Gandhi Hospital here, removed the whistle on Thursday by performing tracheostomy with bronchoscopy.
“While the whistle did not cause any injury to his internal organs, the youth would have faced a crisis if it had travelled further inside his body,” ENT doctors at the hospital said.
This is not first such case that the doctors have operated upon. Around 20-days ago, a 10-year-old boy got admitted at the government hospital after swallowing a whistle and made sounds when he coughed and talked. ENT doctors at the hospital removed it from the boy too.
Bikshapathi, a B Tech student, rolled the whistle under his tongue while playing with his brother’s kids and swallowed it accidentally on Wednesday afternoon. His family members said that after that when he tried to puke it out, he could vomit only food from his stomach.
Thereafter they explained the situation to doctors. He got admitted at Gandhi Hospital on Thursday where X-rays were taken but doctors could not find anything in the report. Doctors from ENT, Anesthesia department used fiberoptic bronchoscopy, which transmits inner images of organ to camera or eye piece.
“After locating the instrument, optical forceps were used to remove the whistle. The patient is stable now,” said Dr G Srikanth, assistant professor at ENT department.