Thirteen-year-old Aruna (name changed) had consumed poison two years ago, in a fit of rage, without a thought to the implications. Her mother said that during a fight between her two daughters, the younger one had taken the unfortunate step. The family, residents of Perambalur, rushed her to a private hospital, where the unconscious girl was intubated and then a tracheostomy was done to enable her to breathe.
“They tried to remove the tube later but it didn’t help,” recalled the mother. After several visits to the hospital, Aruna was referred to the Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust hospital, where a team of doctors evaluated her and planned her surgery.
Paediatric ENT and airway surgeon S. Thirunavukkarasu had to reconstruct a portion of Aruna’s trachea as the tracheostomy had damaged part of it substantially. After the surgery and a 10-day intensive care unit stay, Aruna recovered well but needed speech therapy to be able to speak again.
Hospital medical director S. Balasubramanian said that in the last five years, the institution had built a dedicated team to treat children with airway obstructions.
