By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In a first of its kind medical procedure in the North East, doctors at the Supercare Hospital, Shillong recently removed a safety pin from the small intestine of a 3-and-half month old baby girl Shreya Singha, who swallowed the safety pin by accident on August 9.
The incident took place when the infant’s elder sister was playing with a safety pin and suddenly put it inside the mouth of Shreya who swallowed it.
The baby was then admitted at a city hospital where an X-ray was taken which showed that the safety pin was in the infant’s stomach. Doctors at the hospital assured that the pin would come out of the body along with the stool, but when the safety pin did not come out of the stomach along with the stool, the worried parent admitted the baby at Supercare Hospital.
Fresh X-ray images showed that the safety pin had already entered the small intestine and doctors concluded that that safety pin would not pass through the small intestine since it was a big one.
The baby was finally taken to the Operation Theatre (OT) where the safety pin was removed from the small intestine without any surgery through a procedure in which a Pediatric endoscope (size 8mm diameter) was introduced into the small intestine and the safety pin was removed safely without any harm to the baby or the internal organs.
The baby was discharged from the hospital the next day.
