A rare surgery using an innovative endoscopic technique saved the life of a 61-year-old man who had accidentally swallowed a tablet with intact aluminum blister foil that got stuck in his food pipe.
Prof. Anil Arora, chairman at the Institute of Liver, Gastroenterology and Pancreatico-biliary Sciences (ILGPS) at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, said that the patient was not able to gulp down anything and was spitting saliva.
An endoscopy revealing the complicated situation for doctors to remove the aluminum foil, which was very rigid and had sharp edges, was done on Friday.
Dr. Shrihari Anikhindi, consultant gastroenterologist and therapeutic endoscopist at ILGPS, told Indian media that they gently and slowly pushed the tablet with intact foil into the stomach, punctured the cover to empty its contents, and then folded the aluminum foil into a small piece with the help of innovative technology.
"We were able to safely remove the folded aluminum foil through the mouth by using an innovative endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) cap attached to the endoscope,” Dr. Anikhindi said.
This is not the first time that such a case has happened.
Prof. Arora highlighted that they had encountered a similar case and were successful in using this approach on both occasions.
“Since there is no standardized approach to such rare impacted foreign bodies, we had to think out of the box,” Prof. Arora said.