8-Month-Old Baby Undergoes 'Complex' Surgery To Remove Large Metal Object From Throat

An 8-month-old baby girl in Israel recently had a large metal object removed from her throat by doctors after she was rushed to a hospital when she started experiencing breathing difficulties.

The girl had suffered from stridor breathing episodes, and was taken to Assuta Ashdod Hospital for treatment, the Jerusalem Post reported. Before that, she was taken to a local doctor, who said she had mild shortness of breath and prescribed steroids.

After taking the steroids, the infant's condition improved slightly but her health condition remained the same. When the drugs were discontinued, her health deteriorated.

The family rushed her to the emergency room at Assuta Ashdod Hospital where she underwent a chest X-ray. The results showed the girl had a large metal object lodged in her trachea. It remains unclear as to how the object got stuck in the child's throat.

After the object was discovered, doctors suggested an immediate surgery to remove the metal from her throat. The surgery was led by Dr. Avnat Tamir and Dr. Shamain of the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery and the Department of Anesthesia at Assuta Ashdod, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Surgeons, who removed the object, said that the surgery was "complex and lengthy." The child was sent to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for recovery following the surgery, and was put on life support for three days before she woke up.

"I would like to thank the hospital staff, all without exception, we received amazing and life-saving treatment," said the infant's mother. "Beyond the fact that this is a leading hospital, I have no doubt in the fact that the team of female professionals who treated us with extraordinary dedication and sensitivity, helped with the treatment."

In August, a boy was shocked when a missing Lego piece fell out of his nose after being stuck there for two years. Seven-year-old Sameer Anwar of Dunedin, New Zealand, had mistakenly inserted the toy up his nose back in 2018.

"One day he just told us he had slipped in a tiny piece of Lego and then we tried our best to bring it out but nothing came out," Sameer's father Anwar told the New Zealand Herald at the time.

When the piece was stuck in his nose two years ago, his parents took him to a doctor, who was unable to locate the toy. Doctors believed the piece would naturally pass out through his digestive tract. However, two years later, the piece fell out when the boy blew his nose.