Gujarat: Chikoo seed stuck in woman's windpipe removed after two months

Rajkot: A 50-year-old woman carried a chikoo seed in her trachea (windpipe) for over two months before it was removed surgically last week.

Shantaben Khandeka, a resident of Wankaner in the district, was suffering from a severe cough for the last over two months, said the city-based ENT surgeon Himanshu Thakkar.

"Her health deteriorated day by day even as the physicians she consulted could not find the cause," said Dr Thakkar.

"CT-SCAN showed a foreign body stuck in her trachea which cut down supply of oxygen to her left lung," he said.

"We performed a bronchoscopy on her and removed a 2-cm long chikoo seed without any complications," he said. The procedure was performed last week.

"It was not easy as the patient was around 50 years old and the foreign body stuck in her trachea for over two months had to be removed quickly, otherwise the patient's health could have deteriorated further," Dr Thakkar said.

"After a couple of hours' stay at the hospital, the patient was discharged and she is now fine," he further added.

"Such cases generally occur among children," he noted, adding that had the seed stuck in central area of trachea, she could have died on the spot.