The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Vijayawada News : Surgery conducted to remove swallowed dentures

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 27, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Surgery conducted to remove swallowed dentures

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA: Those using dentures must be cautious. Accidental swallowing of dentures could damage the oesophagus, a pipe through which food passes from pharynx to the stomach. Last Sunday, 60-year old Devineni Bharati of Moghalrajpuram accidentally swallowed her dentures. She had to undergo a three-and-half hour surgery for getting them removed.

Afroz Farooqui, cardio-thoracic surgeon at Citi Cardiac Centre who operated on her, told reporters on Saturday that Ms. Bharati had difficulty in breathing when she was brought to the hospital. Her face was swollen and she experienced acute pain in the epigastric region.

A chest X-ray indicated that air trapped between lungs and the chest wall led to the collapse of her right lung. Further investigations pointed to two holes in her food pipe and a part of the denture protruding out of the food pipe.

Dr. Farooqui said they conducted surgery immediately to remove the dentures and repair the holes in the oesophagus (food pipe).

“The doctors at Andhra Hospital could not retrieve the denture from the food pipe by performing endoscopy, as it was stuck just adjacent to heart. Hence, the patient was referred to us,” he said.

In another interesting case, Srinivas Sai and his cardio-thoracic team members performed a heart surgery on a 14-day old baby suffering from Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), a congenital heart disease.

The surgery was conducted in Andhra Hospital where there was a neo natal care unit.

Hospital managing director P. Ramesh Babu, Dr. Vengal Reddy and Dr. Srinivas of Andhra Hospitals also spoke.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh