On the morning of June 15, a child patient was brought to Quang Ngai Provincial Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital by his family in a state of hoarseness, frequent cough, and shortness of breath. Through examination and endoscopy of the airway, doctors discovered an abnormal foreign object deep in the respiratory tract.
The patient was ordered to be transferred to the operating room to perform emergency endoscopy to remove the foreign object. During bronchoscopy, doctors discovered a living leech lying at the trachea junction. Endoscopic images showed that the leech continuously contracted and stretched, protruding and retreating into the airway.
After accurately determining the location, doctors proceeded to remove the foreign object quickly and accurately. The leech removed had a length of more than 12cm.
According to Specialist Doctor II Huynh Duy Tham - Head of Pediatric Respiratory Department, Quang Ngai Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, this is a particularly dangerous case of a foreign body in the airway. If not detected and intervened in time, the leech may continue to suck blood, develop in size, causing airway blockage, leading to severe respiratory failure, even threatening the child's life.
The family said that the child used to bathe in the stream and drank stream water. This may be the reason why leeches invade the airways, then stick and develop in the body.
Doctors recommend that when children have prolonged abnormal symptoms such as persistent cough, hoarseness, shortness of breath, coughing up blood or feeling stuck in the throat after bathing in streams, drinking stream water, ponds..., parents need to take their children to a medical facility for examination, detection and timely treatment.
