“Danger to life”: a man inhaled a whole fruit

Ari (pseudonym), 73 years old, a resident of an old people’s home in Shafala, was found a few days ago by the treatment teams on the floor of the dining room in the residence having difficulty breathing. Emergency crews were rushed and detected a low storation, but did not find the cause. They resuscitated him – and rushed him to Kaplan Medical Center.

At the Malrad, the doctors suspected that he had inhaled into his lungs, and after a comprehensive examination, an entire entrail was indeed found in his airways, which caused a complete collapse of the left lung. He was in danger of life and was urgently transferred to the operating room.

During a bronchoscopy he performed, the doctors discovered that the fruit was stuck deep inside the left main bronchus. First attempts to extract it using standard forceps were unsuccessful, because its shell was too smooth and fragile, and every attempt to grab it ended in its slipping.

After realizing that the conventional methods were not successful, the medical team decided to try a creative solution: they created a small opening in the center of the grape, inserted through it a Fogarty catheter that is usually used for vascular catheters and at the end a tiny balloon. They inflated the balloon past the grape – and pulled it out intact. After the extraction of the foreign body Ari recovered fully.

The unusual case was published in the scientific journal Respiratory Medicine thanks to the unique method the doctors used to extract the foreign body.

“We were required to think outside the box”

“Foreign body inhalation in children and adults is a medical emergency that may lead to respiratory collapse and even death,” explains Dr. Yevgeni Gershman, director of the Institute of Pulmonary Medicine at the Kaplan Medical Center. “In this case it was a complete blockage that put the patient’s life in immediate danger. When it comes to soft and fragile organic bodies like grapes, the standard tools do not always allow a good grip, so we were required to think outside the box. The use of a catheter allowed us to extract the grape in its entirety, without harming the health and without the need for a more complex operation.”

Dr. Yael Shapira Glitz, Deputy Director of the Otolaryngology Department at the medical center, adds that it was the combination of technical skill and multidisciplinary cooperation that led to success in this complex case. The technique we developed here combines the creation of a channel inside the foreign body and the use of a dedicated catheter, and is an important tool in the medical arsenal for similar cases in the future.”