For over a month and a half, a one-year-old boy in Gujarat's Vadodara district battled a persistent sickness, with everyone believing it to be a case of pneumonia. Despite his family's repeated attempts to find a cure at multiple private hospitals, the toddler continued to suffer from a high fever and a chronic cough.
After weeks of failed treatments, it was discovered that what had been misdiagnosed as a common respiratory infection was actually a small LED bulb lodged deep within his windpipe.
The incident occurred in Vadodara's Malsar village. Doctors in private hospitals were treating the boy's symptoms as pneumonia. However, when his health did not improve, the family came to a government hospital in Gotri.
Doctors in the hospital's ENT department conducted a thorough examination and found that the boy was suffering due to an unknown object in the boy's windpipe. Doctors performed a bronchoscopy procedure and removed an LED bulb that was stuck in the windpipe.
"During the examination, it was found that there was an issue in the windpipe. An X-ray led us to suspect a foreign body was inside. During the operation, a bronchoscope was inserted, and we spotted a foreign object that looked like a piece of metal," said Dr Hiren Soni, Head, ENT, GMERS Hospital, Gotri.
"Because he had been ill for a month and a half, skin had grown over it. With the help of our modern equipment, we were able to remove a bulb of just one centimetre. After removing it, as you can see, it was an LED bulb that had gone into the child's mouth and got stuck in the windpipe. Now, after removing this bulb, the child is healthy. He will be discharged today," Dr Soni added.
(With inputs from Mahendra Prasad)
