Fish bone removed from esophagus of toddler
Doctors urge parents to be more cautious and keep toddlers away from small objects which can be swallowed and cause serious injury or death.
Shanghai Children’s Medical Center reported 12 cases in the past month of children, mainly below of the age of 6, swallowing small objects including coins, nails, fish bones, and hairpins.
The latest case involved an 18-month-old child from Jiangxi Province, who accidentally swallowed a triangular fish bone on the morning of August 11. The local hospital found that the 2-centimeter-long bone went deep into his esophagus and entered the aortic arch.
The child was soon transferred to Shanghai Children’s Medical Center. A CT scan showed that the sharp end of the bone was just 1.1 millimeters away from the aorta — a certain movement or even a cough might have caused life-threatening hemorrhage.
The sharp end of the bone was just 1.1mm away from the child's aorta.
After a group consultation, doctors decided to perform minimally invasive surgery at 1:15am on August 12. The fish bone was successfully removed after 10 minutes. The child was said to have recovered well by Wednesday.
According to the center, it had received 12 young patients, mostly below the age of six, who encountered foreign object aspiration emergencies in the past 30 days.
The center has received 12 young patients because of object aspiration emergencies in the past 30 days.
