Here’s a warning for fish- eaters: Don’t swallow rice or banana to force down a stuck bone in your throat. A 48-year- old fish-eater, last week, landed up at KEM Hospitalin Parel with a fishbone stuck in her neck region.
It was successfully removed by ENT surgeon Dr Neelam Sathe, who called it a rare case of the bone migrating downward from the oral cavity and throat.
Husnabano Nizamuddin Shaikh loves eating freshwater magur, or catfish. On March 4, she complained of severe pain in her throat. She had a stiff neck and couldn’t swallow anything.
After questioning her about her daily routine and diet, doctors suspected the fishbone had migrated to her neck but had luckily not pierced any major blood vessels. After a long surgical procedure, the 2.8-cm-long bone was removed.
After a long surgical procedure, the 2.8-cm-long bone was removed | FPJ Photo
Dr Sathe said Shaikh was completely unaware of accidentally swallowing the fish- bone, which was causing pain. She first consulted a private practitioner, who gave her a pain killer. For over 15 days, she was on a liquid diet but the pain didn’t stop. It kept getting severe and she approached the doctors at KEM Hospital.
“Asher neck was swollen, we took out an X-ray and found the cause,” said Dr Sathe.
Dr Sathe said, “We operated on her on March 5 and the bone was removed after a 90- minute surgery. As it was not touching the arteries yet, we took it out easily with a pair of pincers.”
She added that the two life threatening situations could have been either rupturing a blood vessel or migrating to the chest region. She added that one should not swallow rice or raw banana to force down stuck fish bones. Instead, one should seek medical help.
