Pune docs save toddler's life as peanut sticks down his windpipe

Not keeping a sharp eye on your toddler’s activity can prove life-threatening is the lesson that Koregaon Bhima resident Datta Uttpankar had to learn the hard way.

A team of city doctors saved his eight-month-old son Chandrakant, who became unconscious after a peanut got stuck in his windpipe.

Recalling the ordeal, Datta said, "He suddenly coughed, vomited and became unconscious. I contacted the doctor employed with the company that I work at, and he told me to rush my child to a hospital."

The toddler was admitted to a private hospital in the city on March 2 after his left lung collapsed post severe infection leading to pneumonia.

"The child was unconscious, gasping desperately for breath and his oxygen saturation and BP were critically low. For three days, he was on ventilator support. Initial suspicion was that because of vomit a mucus plug was blocking his airway. We aspirated him. His X-ray came clear and he responded to the treatment for two days. But again his condition started deteriorating," paediatrician Dr Sanjay Bafna.

The toddler's condition became severe and was on the verge of total collapse as infection had resulted in pneumonia in both lungs.

Further diagnosis revealed that the infection and the critical state of the child was nothing more than a peanut.

"His left lung had collapsed and severe infection had spread to the entire body causing sepsis," said Bafna.

As the child experienced multiple convulsions instead of improving, doctors attempted a bronchoscopy, which was risky as child was critically ill. "While we are used to dealing with various foreign bodies in windpipes of kids between 1 year and 3 years, we were surprised to see a peanut in the toddler's windpipe. It had almost snuffed his life out", Bafna said.

Paediatric surgeon Dr Dasmit Singh recalled how removing the peanut pieces was another challenge given the child's critical condition, tiny size of his windpipe and complete collapse of the left lung.

"We had to literally nibble away at the peanut and erode it to free the airway," Singh said.

Within 48 hours of the procedure, the child was able to breathe without artificial support. After keeping him on observation for five days, Chandrakant was discharged on March 14.