10-month-old baby nearly had his intestines perforated after swallowing a cigarette containing a piece of metal.

(Dan Tri) - A boy was brought to Hong Ngoc General Hospital after swallowing part of a cigarette, which contained a piece of metal as sharp as a knife blade. Doctors quickly performed an endoscopy and successfully removed the foreign object, saving the boy from the risk of intestinal perforation.

Sharp foreign objects hidden in specially formulated cigarettes

According to the family, the boy LMT (10 months old, Hanoi ) was playing with his father when he suddenly picked up a cigarette on the table. In a moment of carelessness, the family let the boy put it in his mouth and swallowed the tip of the cigarette.

More dangerously, unlike traditional cigarettes, this is a heated tobacco, a type of tobacco with a special structure, containing a thin, sharp metal sheet inside, used to conduct heat. When T. swallowed it, saliva softened and dissolved the outer layer of tobacco, revealing a sharp, thin metal core like a miniature blade.

“When I saw my child swallow it, I panicked and tried to take it out but couldn’t. The child started coughing, his face turned red and he vomited some cigarette ash. The whole family was very scared and immediately took the child to Hong Ngoc General Hospital,” the father recounted.

Cigarettes have a special structure with a piece of metal inside the core (Photo: BVCC).

At the Pediatrics Department - Hong Ngoc - Phuc Truong Minh General Hospital, the results of clinical and paraclinical examination showed a rectangular metal foreign body measuring 1.5x0.7cm, with sharp corners, thin and sharp like a knife blade located in the left hypochondrium, the position of the stomach balloon of baby T. In addition, due to swallowing part of the cigarette, the child showed signs of drug intoxication with symptoms of fatigue and pale lips.

However, this condition only lasted about 30 minutes. After monitoring, the baby's vital signs were stable, and blood tests showed no abnormalities.

Location of foreign object on X-ray film (Photo: BVCC).

Save the baby from the risk of intestinal perforation

Recognizing the danger of the foreign object, the doctors immediately coordinated an interdisciplinary consultation between pediatric gastroenterology, surgical gastroenterology, anesthesia and resuscitation, and diagnostic imaging; and decided to choose the option of performing an endoscopy to remove the foreign object.

Directly monitoring and performing endoscopy on the baby, Dr. Phan Thi Hien (Department of Pediatrics and Gastroenterology - Hong Ngoc General Hospital - Phuc Truong Minh) said that although the foreign object was not too large in size, it was thin, sharp and had sharp corners. When moving in the digestive tract, it could cut or puncture the baby's mucosa.

When the team performed the endoscopy, the foreign object had moved down to the duodenum. Just a small movement could cause the foreign object to fall into the small intestine. Treatment would be more difficult and take more time, with a high risk of intestinal perforation.

Therefore, the team performed each step meticulously, precisely controlling the direction of movement of the tweezers, ensuring to maintain a steady line of sight while avoiding the foreign object from rubbing against the intestinal wall, using a racket with a cloth mesh to completely hug the foreign object and gently pull it out through the esophagus.

After 15 minutes of endoscopy, thanks to solid professional experience and smooth coordination, Dr. Phan Thi Hien and her team successfully removed the metal piece safely without causing scratches or damage to the child's digestive tract.

Doctors performed endoscopy to remove foreign objects (Photo: BVCC).

After the intervention, the baby was alert, played well, ate well, had no stomachache, and did not vomit. Vital signs were stable and the child was discharged the same day.

The child is awake, with stable indicators after intervention (Photo: BVCC).

Through the case of baby T, doctors recommend that parents need to be more careful in the process of caring for young children, especially children in the stage of crawling and grasping objects around. This is the stage when children are hyperactive, like to explore the world by putting everything in their mouths. Therefore, the risk of swallowing foreign objects is very high.

Parents need to proactively remove small, sharp objects such as magnets, coins, buttons, screws, etc. or toxic substances such as cleaning solutions, cigarettes, etc. from children's reach. Check food carefully before feeding children, avoid leaving fish bones, chicken bones, etc., seeds or debris that can cause choking. At the same time, train children in the habit of not sucking on or sucking on toys or foreign objects and always have adults supervise when children eat or play, do not let children run, jump, or laugh while eating.

In case a child swallows a foreign object, parents should immediately take the child to the nearest medical facility for examination and timely treatment; do not try to remove the foreign object yourself or feed the child more to help it go down the stomach, because it can cause the foreign object to get stuck deeper and endanger the child.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/be-10-thang-suyt-thung-ruot-vi-nuot-dieu-thuoc-la-chua-manh-kim-loai-20251027213713541.htm