Hyderabad: A 42-year-old businessman from Prakasam recently went through a very trying time as he ingested a 3 cm X 2 mm metal wire that was in a piece of chicken kebab he ate.
The wire entered the food pipe and pierced into the neck bone and got stuck in the spinal cord, making it very difficult for him to swallow food.
After two days of torment, he visited doctors in the district. However, an endoscopy carried out by a gastroenterologist did not reveal anything. Finally, an X-Ray revealed the foreign body in the upper part of his spinal cord.
Doctors advised him to seek further treatment in Hyderabad. Dr Manas Kumar Panigrahi, senior consultant neurosurgeon at Krishna Institute of Medical Science Hospitals, who removed the wire, said, “The patient came with an X-ray which showed the foreign particle. But to ensure its exact location, a CT Scan was done. Closer evaluation showed that it had gone from the mouth into the food pipe. As the food pipe is a soft structure, it pierced the small holes in the neck bone. These small holes in the bone are for the blood supply. As the wire was only 2 mm wide, it went in easily and got stuck in the upper area of the spinal cord.”
The tough part was that the wire had to be extracted the way it had gone in. Dr Panigrahi added, “We couldn’t pull the wire out as it was in the spinal cord which affects the complete movement of head, hands and legs. Hence it had to be delicately removed. It was an open operation as we cut the front part of the neck, using CT Scan and microscope in the theatre for the exact location.”
The patient was lucky as he didn’t develop any numbness in the limbs and his movements were not hampered because of the wire in his spinal cord.
Dr Panigrahi said, “It is advised to practice Indian style of eating even in restaurants so that food can be felt. At the same time, one should bite small portions as it will ensure that chewing is complete.”
