kolkata: SSKM Hospital has given a fresh lease of life to a one-and-half-year-old girl from Assam by removing a betel nut that got stuck against right lung after she had accidentally swallowed it.
As the betel nut remained attached to the right lung of the girl, it caused an infection in her body. The incident occurred more than a month ago when the victim Manasi Sil had swallowed the betel nut. The family members did not have any idea about the incident. As it triggered infection the right lung was not functioning normally and the patient always coughed. Initially, the family members assumed that she might have caught a cold and gave some medicine. As her health condition did not improve, the family members took her to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital where CT scan was performed and the doctors came to know that a foreign particle got stuck inside the body. The patient was eventually referred to the SSKM Hospital.Bronchoscopy was performed on the patient by the SSKM doctors where it showed that a foreign element got stuck against her right lung. A team was formed with the doctors from the Institute of Otorhinolaryngology and head neck surgery with its head Dr Arunabha Sengupta at the top. The team performed the surgery. Rigid bronchoscopy was performed on the patient and doctors removed the betel nut with the help of forcep.
"The patient has been recovering well and she has shown signs of improvement. If coughing is not stopped over a period of time despite having antibiotics, a bronchoscopy should be performed to find out what actually happened and if there are any foreign particles," a senior doctor from the department said.