Delhi: Plastic pen cap lodged in patient's lungs removed after 26 years

New Delhi [India], August 30 (ANI): In a rare and extraordinary case, doctors at a Hospital in Delhi successfully removed a plastic pen cap that had remained lodged in a patient's lung for 26 years.
"The 33-year-old male patient had accidentally swallowed the pen cap at the age of 7 while playing. Since then, he experienced no major health complications until recently, when he reported to the hospital with persistent coughing and traces of blood in his sputum." the hospital stated.
A series of investigations, including an X-ray, revealed the presence of a foreign body in his lung. Considering the risks, the thoracic surgery team led by Dr Sabyasachi Bal, Chairperson at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, decided to perform the surgery. During the operation, doctors were astonished to discover and successfully extract a 26-year-old plastic pen cap.
"This is a highly unusual and rare case in India. A foreign object lodged in the lung for such a long duration without causing life-threatening complications is extremely uncommon. However, it also highlights how dangerous such situations can become over time, as they may lead to infections, bleeding, or other serious health risks," Dr Roman Dutta, Consultant, Department of Thoracic Surgery at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said.

The patient is now stable and recovering well. Doctors emphasise that any suspected ingestion of foreign objects, especially among children, must be evaluated immediately to prevent long-term health risks.
In other incident earlier, a 9-month-old infant was clinically stabilised and discharged within four days after being admitted to Rainbow Children's Hospital, Malviya Nagar, in a deeply comatose state. The child was suffering from a rare metabolic disorder that had gone undiagnosed and had escalated rapidly, leading to severe respiratory failure, liver enlargement, and a life-threatening drop in blood pH.
The baby arrived at Rainbow's Emergency Department with a five-day history of poor feeding and increasing breathlessness. On examination, she was non-responsive, with dangerously abnormal blood gas levels and signs of multi-organ stress. The medical team identified a potential inborn error of metabolism and moved swiftly to initiate critical interventions.
The child was transferred to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) where she was intubated and placed on mechanical ventilation. A decision was taken to initiate dialysis, a rare and high-risk intervention in infants of this size. Rainbow's paediatric nephrology team, with specific expertise in infant dialysis, successfully performed continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT), helping to rapidly clear the metabolic toxins from her system. (ANI)