Bronchoscopic removal of unusual foreign body through tracheostomy.

The child was restless with minimal respiratory distress, pulse rate 140/min and SpO2 95%. A posteroanterior chest radiograph (Fig. 1) revealed a hair pin in the right main bronchus. Rigid bronchoscopy was done under general anesthesia and the foreign body was removed from the right main bronchus but got stuck into base of tongue as open prongs of hair pin were facing the surgeon. There was oozing of blood and fall in the oxygen saturation (SpO2 65%). The hair pin was pushed back into the trachea again to facilitate ventilation. Tracheostomy was done for extraction of the foreign body. A 3.5 mm bronchoscope was then passed into the trachea and endoscopic forceps were used to pull out a 6 cm long hair pin via the tracheostomy. There were no immediate post operative complications and a postoperative posteroanterior chest X-ray was normal. The patient was weaned off the tracheostomy after 3 days.