Rare pharyngeal web treated in city; only 2 cases recorded across world so far

kolkata: A rare case of adult pharyngeal web has been successfully treated by applying coblation technology at a city hospital.

Only two cases of congenital pharyngeal web in an adult patient have so far been documented in world literature.

This can be reported as the third case.A 47-year-old woman, a resident of Beliaghata, came to the hospital with gynecological issues. The doctors decided to conduct an emergency operation on the patient. During operation, the doctors found that the patient will not be able to inhale and exhale once the anesthetic drug is administered. This was because of a congenital pharyngeal issue. The doctors felt the need for another surgery which required an ENT expert. Dr Santanu Panja, an expert in the field was called in. Dr Panja said that this patient could not have been turned unconscious by applying general anesthesia. She required a tracheotomy. The issue was resolved by following coblation technology.A senior official of the hospital said that surprisingly the patient never had any complaints. It was while attempting general anesthesia, the endolarynx (the opening of the windpipe) could not be identified due to complete anatomical distortion and the breathing tube could not be passed.

The gynecological surgery for which she was originally admitted had to be temporarily postponed. However, the anomaly was corrected endoscopically by coblation technology and the subsequent surgical procedure was successfully carried out, officials said.The patient was lucky enough not to have encountered any airway emergency in her lifetime else it could have been a life threatening situation for her as access to the airway was impossible, doctors said.