in a crucial, challenging and life-saving surgery, a 14 cm long knife, swallowed by a 32-year-old-patient, was removed from his food pipe at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The surgery was carried out by Ear Nose Throat (ENT) Department on the patient hailing from Chhatarpur. He complained of severe pain in swallowing with inability to swallow anything for two days and he was promptly attended to by Department of ENT Head and Neck Surgery team. The patient revealed a history of swallowing a kitchen knife two days back. He had been irregularly taking antipsychotic medications for last two years.

 

He was also addicted to alcohol, bidi, gutkha, ganja for last 10 years. After X-ray of neck and chest (PA view), a knife like foreign body was detected in the neck region. Emergency surgery was planned. First endoscopy of the food pipe was done on which one end of a knife (handle end) and a pen refill was seen. The pen refill was removed through endoscope, but because of the large size of the knife and risk of injury to food pipe, surrounding vital organs and major blood vessels, a surgical open approach was decided by the ENT team.

 

Through a 4 cm surgical incision in the food pipe, the knife was removed avoiding injury to the surrounding important structures. The patient is recovering well and is presently being fed through nasogastric tube while the food pipe heals. ENT surgical team was headed by Additional Professor Dr Vikas Gupta with Assistant Professor Dr Ganakalyan Behera, Senior resident Dr Shrey, Dr Sandeepan and Dr Prince.