Doctors remove date seed from kid’s windpipe

A team of doctors took a date seed out of a windpipe of a seven-year-old kid at Nishtar Hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) ward by conducting a bronchoscopy.

It was led by an ENT Surgeon Dr Shakaib Faiz Khan and assisted by Dr Noor Akbar, Dr Salar, Dr Imran Khan and OT assistant Asghar. The team under general anesthesia conducted the procedure in the wee hours of Thursday.

A source at Nishtar Hospital told on Thursday that Faizan, 7, hailing from Layyah had the date seed in his mouth while he was going to his coaching.

He somehow inhaled it and it got stuck in his trachea. The kid was referred to Nishtar Hospital from DHQ Layyah, the source said.

Reportedly, the emergency bronchoscopy was conducted under general anesthesia. The large seed was found obstructing the airway. It was immediately retrieved and the child started to improve at once.

In this regard, Dr Khan said, “This was a completely new and complex case for us in which a very large date seed was stuck in the respiratory tract of a child.”

“Our team removed the seed through immediate endoscopy without any delay,” he added.

The doctor said that Faizan must have taken a deep breath while having the seed in his mouth. It travelled down and stuck at the upper most end of trachea commonly known as windpipe, as per the doctors.

Due to the large size, it could not go down and also couldn't be coughed out, the source concluded.

It is worth mentioning that Bronchoscopy is a procedure that lets doctors look at the patients’ lungs and air passages. It's usually performed by a doctor who is specialised in lung disorders (a pulmonologist).

During bronchoscopy, a thin tube (broncho scope) is passed through the patient's nose or mouth, down his throat and into his lungs.

On the other hand, the parents were overjoyed when the child survived and prayed for all the medical staff. The boy was discharged from the hospital when he recovered.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2020.