The facts date back to March, but only in the last few days Haider – this is the child’s name – was finally discharged from hospital after surgery and a long stay in intensive care.
A five year old boy who had accidentally swallowed a battery he was saved by doctors from the Cardiac Surgery and Pediatric Surgery department of the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic in Bologna. The facts date back to March, but only in the last few days Haider – this is the child’s name – was finally discharged from hospital.
The child had ingested a disk battery without his parents’ knowledge. In Ancona, or in the hospital closest to his home, the battery was removed, but in the following days the child began to feel ill, vomiting blood. Haider had therefore been transferred to Sant’Orsola. “This type of battery is dangerous, because it attaches to the esophageal mucosa and can also lead to perforation of the esophagus – Professor Mario Lima, director of Pediatric Surgery, who performed the operation, explained to Resto del Carlino –. And in case of perforation, the aorta could also be affected, creating a fistula between the artery and the organ.”
An operation was immediately necessary for Haider. Professor Lima stopped the bleeding from the esophagus with a probe while his cardiologist colleague Andrea Donti applied an endoprosthesis to the aorta. After the operation, the child was transferred to intensive care, monitored by Dr. Marta Agulli’s team (anesthesia and cardiac surgical intensive care), followed by a hospital stay that lasted months and rehabilitation until he returned home. “This story must be a warning to parents – recalls Lima –: they must pay attention in cases of ingestion of disk batteries, never to be underestimated”. The consequences, as happened for little Haider, can be decidedly serious.
