Doctors pull out 6 cm hairpin from 2.5 year old girl in northeastern India
by Sudipto Maity
Doctors in northeastern India’s Manipur saved a 2.5-year-old girl who had accidentally swallowed a six-centimetre-long (2.36 inches) hairpin, by removing the foreign body in time.
The procedure took place on May 23 at the Shija Hospitals and Research Institute (SHRI), located in Lamphelpat area of Imphal West district.
The girl had accidentally swallowed the metallic hairpin while playing at home around 11:30 AM, forcing the frantic parents to rush her to one hospital after another in the city with complaints of sore throat.
Reluctant to have their daughter undergo an operation, the parents rushed her to SHRI at 6:40 PM, hoping to save her with non-surgical procedures. The initial investigation in the emergency room reported that the foreign body was in the duodenum.
The patient was immediately prepared for an endoscopic intervention. A team led by Dr. Chandragupta Chongtham (General and Laparoscopic Surgeon) and Dr. Kennedy Taiyenjam (Consultant – Anesthesiologist) conducted the endoscopic foreign body removal procedure under general anesthesia.
During the procedure, the foreign body was noted in the duodenum (D2 and D3 junction).
The doctors carefully and successfully removed the hairpin, which was no easy task.
The patient was discharged from the hospital the next day (24th May, 2022) in good physical condition.