Arab woman swallows pin, UAE doctors remove it in 40-minute surgery

Ras Al Khaimah - The woman was holding a big pin by her teeth to later use it to fix her hair cover.

The ENT surgeons at Saqr Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah have rescued a woman who swallowed a pin by mistake.
The surgeons did an emergency bronchoscopy surgery to save the 31-year-old Arab woman's life.
"The patient was not able to breathe normally and was coughing endlessly after swallowing a pin by mistake," said Dr Abdullah Al Nuaimi, director of the RAK medical zone.
"The big-size pin went down through her bronchus, and rested in the left lung of the patient who was initially admitted to the emergency section minutes before the Maghreb time."
The woman told the doctors that she was holding a big pin by her teeth to later use it to  fix her hair cover.
"It unintentionally slipped into my mouth, following which I started coughing severely."
The woman was immediately admitted to the x-ray section, Dr Nuaimi added. "The scan image showed a big pin in the patient's left lung."
Mohammed Rashid bin Arsheed, director of the Saqr Hospital, said the ENT surgeons in the hospital decided to conduct an emergency surgery to rescue her life.
"The pin was not only of a big size, but has also rested in a deep area in the left lung that was difficult to pull out even by a bronchoscope operation." 
However, the operation was necessary because it might have led to a total breathing failure and repetitive inflammations, he pointed out. "It was a complicated operation, actually."
A special ENT team, led by Dr Mohammed Shawakh, did the operation on the patient who was fasting when she was admitted to the emergency section.
"It took the staff surgeons 40 minutes to remove the big-size pin from the left lung of the woman using a bronchoscope."
The patient is in a good and stable condition, he said. "Such solid and sharp items should never be held in our mouths because it might slip into the lungs and lead to serious and life-threatening consequences."

ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com

• Ras Al Khaimah