Custard Apple Seed Extracted From Windpipe Of Baby At Bhubaneswar’s SUM Ultimate Medicare

Bhubaneswar: Surgeons at the SUM Ultimate Medicare yet again successfully performed a high-risk procedure to remove a custard-apple seed, which got stuck in the windpipe of a 12-month-old baby suffering from anaemia and pulmonary tuberculosis.

Hemalata Yadav, the infant from Atabira in Bargarh district, was playing with custard-apple seeds on October 30 when she swallowed one and it accidentally got stuck in her windpipe triggering respiratory distress.

Worried parents of the infant rushed her to a nearby healthcare centre but she was referred to a bigger hospital for immediate intervention. The baby was received at SUM Ultimate Medicare in a critical condition as she was found to be severely anaemic and suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis.

Head of Department of ENT and Skull Base Surgery Dr Radhamadhab Sahu, who examined the baby decided to conduct the difficult procedure after all investigations were done. It was a challenge to put the baby under general anaesthesia considering her condition.

Dr Sahu, along with the anaesthesia team led by senior consultant Dr Dipankar Padhihari, took up the challenge to save the life of the baby and successfully removed the large seed from the windpipe using optical forceps endoscopically. The risk of such a procedure gets increased manifold in infants as the oxygen level of infants falls very fast, Dr Sahu said.