Xiaomei (pseudonym) is one year and eight months old. She has big bright eyes and is always curious about things around her. She is a little cute and happy at home. She has hardly been ill since she was born.
One day, Grandpa Yuan, who loves Xiaomei the most, brought many local products home from the countryside, including a packet of delicious peanuts, which he couldn't wait to share with Xiaomei. Xiaomei jumped with excitement when she saw her long-lost grandfather. Seeing the bag of peanuts, Xiaomei's eyes lit up and she wolfed it down one by one. After coughing a few times, she continued to play with grandpa.
Unexpectedly, two days later, Xiaomei's body showed some abnormalities …
She began to cough, but it was all dry and she couldn't cough up phlegm. No fever, breathing, nausea and vomiting. However, occasionally you can hear a little "whistling" sound in your breathing.
I thought it was a cold, but my cough never got better after taking cold medicine. My parents were worried and took her to the hospital.
It is not easy for children to cough.
After the parents described Xiaomei's illness, the doctor listened to Xiaomei's lungs with a stethoscope and found that the right side was quieter than the left side, and there were some "howls". The doctor frowned and felt something was wrong. He immediately arranged for a chest X-ray examination and found that there was something wrong with the lung image.
After the doctor explained Xiaomei's condition, the next step was a series of tests and treatments that made adults anxious and tired.
First, pediatric thoracic surgeons appeared. Under general anesthesia, a long bronchoscope was released from Xiaomei's nose, extending from nostril to distant bronchus. Indeed, in the right bronchus, I found a little thing that the doctor was worried about, "a peanut"!
The doctor explained the danger of this situation to her parents. With their consent, Xiaomei was pushed into the operating room for general anesthesia again. Every medical staff in the operating room is jittery and nervous. Subsequently, several otolaryngologists and anesthesiologists appeared, using a rigid bronchoscope with foreign body forceps, and in the stormy waves of Xiaomei's blood oxygen concentration fluctuation, it took a lot of effort to finally clip out the lost peanuts. After the operation, Xiaomei was transferred to the intensive care unit for observation, so as to pay close attention to her breathing. Two days later, he was in stable condition and returned to the general ward. After five days of tossing and turning, he finally went home from the hospital. Because a peanut upset the whole family, it also made my parents and grandpa blame themselves.
Foreign bodies fall into the respiratory tract, so be absolutely careful!
This is one of the "lucky" cases in which children have foreign bodies in their respiratory tract. Why say lucky? According to statistics, only about half of the cases of foreign bodies in children's respiratory tract were witnessed by witnesses, and the rest occurred without the attention of adults.
Foreign bodies in respiratory tract mostly occur in children under three years old. Children of this age are still developing their teeth, their chewing and swallowing functions are still immature and full of curiosity. They put everything into their mouths or play while eating, which greatly increases the chance of accidentally choking on foreign objects. Foreign body in respiratory tract is an important cause of accidental death of children, which must not be ignored!
Watch out! These things may fall into the respiratory tract!
Among the foreign bodies falling into children's bronchi, food is the majority, and peanuts rank first in the rankings for many years! Peanut is really a "child respiratory killer". Why? You can imagine the structure of peanuts, which is smooth in appearance, expands after absorbing water, and may split in two, blocking the bronchi on both sides at the same time, so that the respiratory tract is completely blocked and suffocated. It's creepy to think about it!
In addition to the most common peanuts, there are melon seeds, mung beans, drupes, toy accessories and other small things. May be inhaled into the respiratory tract by children. There have been cases where the pen cover fell into the respiratory tract and was discovered two years later.
In view of the seriousness of this problem, the United States passed the Consumer Product Safety Act as early as 1979, which stipulated the minimum size of articles used by children (diameter greater than 3. 17 cm, length greater than 5.7 1 cm). In 2008, the Federal Hazardous Substances Act was amended, which stipulated that the website or packaging should be affixed with the warning and sign of "suffocation danger warning". ? 20 10 The American Academy of Pediatrics also suggested that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should establish a food safety evaluation system and mark suffocation warnings on those foods that may be in danger of suffocation.
What are the symptoms of foreign bodies in respiratory tract?
"If a foreign body falls into the respiratory tract, can't you breathe? 」
Not necessarily, it depends on the size, location and nature of the foreign body. It is necessary to understand the structure of the respiratory tract before understanding the symptoms that may be caused by foreign bodies. The respiratory tract is the trachea below the throat, which then divides into bronchi on both sides, branches into many bronchioles and finally reaches the lungs.
Because the throat has the function of protecting the respiratory tract, if a foreign body falls in, it will generally induce a cough reaction and discharge things. However, if the foreign body is large and the whole body is stuck in the throat or trachea, the child may have difficulty breathing, purple lips and unconsciousness. But many small foreign bodies in the respiratory tract will fall into the lower bronchus. At this time, because there is a breathing lung, there may be no obvious symptoms at first.
Because the symptoms of foreign body stuck in the bronchus are not obvious, children can't express it clearly, so parents need to be highly vigilant in order to find it early. Children with foreign bodies in the respiratory tract may show chronic cough and repeated lung infections, and sometimes they may be mistaken for asthma. Symptoms can last for months or even years. Therefore, if the child has no asthma or other lung diseases before, but has persistent cough and repeated pneumonia, it is necessary to rule out the possibility of tracheal foreign bodies and seek medical treatment as soon as possible.
Doctors who use stethoscopes may find that their breathing sounds are low, and there are murmurs or sputum when they breathe. Chest x-rays may show emphysema or pneumonia in one lung. However, in many cases, auscultation and X-ray examination are normal. Therefore, if there is a strong suspicion, the doctor will arrange a flexible bronchoscope or chest CT scan to help determine whether there is a foreign body.
Inhalation of foreign bodies should help children quickly pat their backs to make things cough up?
Not necessarily!
If there is a foreign body stuck in the throat or trachea, it will immediately cause difficulty in breathing, so it really needs emergency treatment, such as Hamlik method and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
However, if the foreign body is stuck in the bronchus, it is not only difficult to cough up by patting the back, but also may make the foreign body sink deeper and get stuck more tightly. In addition, if the bronchus originally stuck with foreign objects has been blocked by granulation and the foreign objects "jump" to the bronchus on the other side, the child may still be alive and kicking from the last second, and suddenly suffocate and lack oxygen, which is quite dangerous. What should I do if there is a foreign body in the bronchus?
If the foreign body is stuck in the bronchus, it is best to take it out as soon as possible within 24 hours. If this time is exceeded, there may be complications such as granulation, bleeding, pneumonia, emphysema, respiratory distress and even life-threatening!
As can be seen from Xiaomei's example, taking out bronchial foreign bodies requires an experienced medical team. These include otolaryngology, anesthesiology, pediatrics, and even thoracic surgeons and nurses.
Generally, children will be under general anesthesia, and otolaryngologists will use rigid bronchoscope to remove trachea and bronchus from their mouths, and use special foreign body forceps and other tools to remove foreign bodies. In this process, because bronchoscope and instruments need to go in and out of the trachea repeatedly, and the respiratory tract is blocked by foreign bodies, there is not enough stable oxygen when operating under general anesthesia, patients will face the risk of repeated hypoxia, and the blood oxygen concentration monitor will constantly give dangerous alarms. If the foreign body is too deep or difficult to take out, you may need a thoracotomy! This thrilling operation process is really beyond the imagination of ordinary people!
In view of this, it is still necessary to emphasize that "prevention is better than cure", and the most important thing is how to avoid similar incidents from happening again.
Be vigilant and plan ahead, please remember the "three noes"!
How to prevent children from foreign bodies in the respiratory tract? Here is a formula of "three noes":
● "Don't give" small things: especially children under three years old, small things include food and toys.
● "Don't" eat and play: small things may be inhaled into the respiratory tract when playing.
● "Non-stop" cough should be noted: chronic cough must first exclude foreign bodies in the respiratory tract.
As long as you pay more attention at ordinary times, you can avoid accidents. Let's check the safety of the children together, and hope that the little babies can grow up healthily and safely!
On-site screening:
A fishbone stuck in the throat to swallow a meal will only be self-defeating.