BHUBANESWAR, FEB 9    :    In a first-of-its-kind effort, pediatrics doctors at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, have saved the life of a 9-year-old boy from West Bengal by removing a stitching needle from his lungs.

AIIMS sources said on Friday that a 9-year-old kid from West Bengal came to AIIMS after aspirating a stitching needle into his lungs (left lower lobe bronchus lateral segment).

A team of doctors from the Department of Pediatrics, comprising Dr Krishna M Gulla, Dr Ketan, Dr Ramakrishna and , Dr Rashmi Ranjan Das, have successfully removed the needle without any complications.

We could avoid major surgery (thoracotomy) for the kid, and very few centers across India remove these sharp airway foreign bodies using less invasive flexible bronchoscopy, the doctors said.

The AIIMS Bhubaneswar has a dedicated pediatric pulmonology and ICU team that performs bronchoscopic interventions from neonatal age (< 1 age) to 15 years age in Odisha state.(UNI)