Coughing and difficulty breathing for more than a year, examination revealed foreign object in bronchus

Ms. VTK (57 years old, living in Long An) has been suffering from a persistent cough accompanied by severe chest pain and difficulty breathing for over a year. Although she has visited a medical facility, the specific cause has not been found.

She was also given medication for a long time but her condition did not improve. For the past two months, the chest pain has been getting worse, making it difficult for her to breathe, vomiting while eating, and the persistent cough has seriously affected her sleep. Worried about her health, her family discussed taking her to Xuyen A General Hospital for examination.

At the time of admission, Ms. K. seemed exhausted by severe chest pain, difficulty breathing, vomiting and fever. A CT scan showed pneumonia, and the CT image showed a solid lesion in the S3 lobe of the right lung. Suspecting a foreign body in the airway, the doctor ordered a bronchoscopy to find the cause of the pneumonia.

Foreign objects removed from patient's bronchus

PHOTO: BSCC

On May 31, specialist doctor 2 Truong Ngoc Nha, Head of Endoscopy Department, Xuyen A General Hospital, said that through bronchoscopy, a polygonal foreign object with a diameter of nearly 5 mm was discovered in the patient's S3 bronchus, with a lot of surrounding granulation tissue. The team carefully removed the foreign object successfully with specialized tools. This foreign object was the cause of the patient's repeated pneumonia, affecting the patient's lung function for more than a year.

After the foreign object was removed from the bronchus, the patient's severe chest pain and difficulty breathing improved rapidly and he returned to normal eating and drinking. The patient continued to receive intravenous antibiotics to treat pneumonia and took medication as prescribed by the doctor.

“Normally, if a foreign body in the airway is large, it will cause complications such as acute airway obstruction, cyanosis, apnea, and cardiac arrest. If the foreign body is small, it will cause recurrent pneumonia, lung abscess, and more seriously, collapsed lung, causing loss of lung function in the patient. Therefore, when a patient has symptoms of prolonged cough of unknown cause, they should go to a reputable medical facility for examination,” Dr. Nha recommends.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ho-kho-tho-hon-mot-nam-di-kham-phat-hien-di-vat-la-o-phe-quan-18525052916553988.htm