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Case Study: What Happened When A 77-Year-Old Patient Swallowed An Entire Keychain? (Representational image/Pixabay)
Case study of a medical emergency: It could have ended fatally for a 77-year-old man, who swallowed an entire keychain, which got lodged deep inside his body and needed an emergency procedure to pull it out, leaving everyone else in absolute terror and shock. The medical emergency happened earlier this month, and the case was handled by a New Delhi-based doctor, Dr Shubham Vatsya. He called it one of the rarest of the rare cases of a foreign body ingestion. There are many health hazards of ingesting a foreign body which, in an extreme case, can lead to death depending on where the object is lodged, and if there is a delay in the patient receiving medical treatment.
Some serious health hazards include obstruction, when the object is stuck in the digestive tract, causing blockages, severe abdominal pain, and vomiting; internal damage, when the item causes internal injuries, such as bleeding or damage to tissues; perforation, when its sharp edges can puncture the stomach or intestine walls, causing serious infection and abscesses; toxicity, depending on the material; and infection, when bacteria accumulates on the object.
In this particular case, the elderly patient accidently ingested a key with a full keychain, probably because of his dementia. According to a statement shared by the doctor, the patient struggled to swallow food or even drink water. Other symptoms included breathing difficulty, which prompted an immediate visit to the doctor.
A swift X-ray was conducted by the attending general physician, which revealed a metallic foreign object lodged in the patient's upper esophagus. What shocked everyone, however, was that the key was attached to a full keychain -- meaning, it was not an easy or small object to swallow, but the patient accidentally did it anyway.
The septuagenarian patient was immediately referred to Dr Vatsya, who is a renowned gastroenterologist in the city; he acted without any further delay. An emergency endoscopy was performed and the object was safely removed in under a minute, saving the man's life.
"Such cases in elderly patients with cognitive decline are extremely rare, and the risks can escalate quickly," Dr Shubham pointed out, adding that quick diagnosis and immediate referral made all the difference. He further stated that solving such cases becomes possible only with the expertise of a gastroenterologist who is able to perform endoscopic foreign body removal.
This case, for instance, was solved in less than one minute with the assistance of expert endoscopy technicians, the doctor said.
Within just 15 minutes of undergoing the procedure, the patient's swallowing and breathing capabilities were restored. He started to feel normal. Dr Vatsya said the case highlights the critical importance of early intervention and the role of multidisciplinary collaboration between general physicians and specialists.