Doctors from Malaysia in the pages of The Journal of Emergency Medicine described an unusual neck injury that a woman received after swallowing a fish bone.
45076
A 54-year-old woman felt an “unbearable pain in her throat” when she ate grilled fish. At the same time, she realized that something was stuck in her throat. To get rid of the foreign body, she tried to induce vomiting, but this made it worse. Her breathing became labored and her neck became swollen.
In the hospital emergency department, doctors felt the patient’s neck and discovered an unexpected symptom – crepitus, a crunching sound, as if small bubbles were bursting under the skin. This is a sign of subcutaneous emphysema – the presence of air in the soft tissues under the skin.
The problem with a pin: what to do if you swallow a foreign object
People of any age can accidentally or deliberately swallow something that should not be swallowed. Most often these are small objects that cause neither harm nor discomfort. But in certain cases, a swallowed foreign body can cause significant trouble. Let's figure it out.
Read the article
Doctors were not immediately able to detect the stuck bone: during examination and on the X-ray, it remained “invisible.” They note that some types of fish bones do not absorb X-rays well, making them difficult to search for. A CT scan showed that the bone had penetrated the sternocleidomastoid muscle (the largest muscle on the anterolateral aspect of the neck) by approximately 5 centimeters.
Removing fish bones from the throat and esophagus is not an uncommon practice for emergency room doctors, but the case described in The Journal of Emergency Medicine is notable because the bone not only penetrated deep into the soft tissue of the neck, but also allowed air to enter it. Doctors suggest that the “travel” of the foreign body was facilitated by active movements of the tongue and neck. Attempts to induce vomiting could help get air into the tissue, experts suggest.
The woman underwent surgery to remove bone from the muscles, after five days the symptoms practically disappeared.
The child swallowed a magnet: why it is dangerous and what not to do
Let's look at what you need to know about swallowing magnets.
Read the article
Earlier in the New England Journal of Medicine, scientists described a case of perforation of the small intestine with a fish bone. This can also be called rare because the likelihood of intestinal damage in such cases is less than 1%. Typically, foreign bodies that reach the intestine pass through it. Most often, fish bones get stuck in the throat.
You can learn more about what to do if you swallow a foreign body from our material.