Laser to the Rescue of an Impacted Denture in the Food Pipe

New Delhi : In a remarkable medical achievement, doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital successfully removed an impacted dental plate that had accidentally and dangerously lodged deep inside a patient’s food pipe, using an advanced endoscopic technique requiring a laser cutter, thereby helping avoid major surgery.
The patient arrived at the hospital with severe respiratory distress and pain in the throat after accidentally swallowing his denture, which got stuck just below the junction of the food pipe and windpipe, an area called the cricopharynx in the upper esophagus.
He was experiencing significant difficulty in swallowing and severe chest discomfort.
Imaging studies confirmed that the dental prosthesis had become firmly lodged at a delicate point in the food pipe, where its sharp metallic clasps posed a risk of tearing the lining of the esophagus.
Calling the case extremely challenging, Prof. Anil Arora, Chairman, Institute of Liver, Gastroenterology and Pancreaticobiliary Sciences (ILGPS), Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said,
“This was one of the most difficult foreign bodies we have encountered. Conventional removal techniques like foreign body forceps or a polypectomy snare carried a high risk of injury to the esophagus.”
After initial attempts with conventional forceps proved unsuccessful, the medical team decided to adopt an innovative approach.
Under precise endoscopic guidance, the doctors used a cutting-edge laser beam to carefully fragment the impacted denture into smaller pieces inside the esophagus in an effort to disengage them from the esophageal lumen.
A protective overtube was then inserted in the upper esophagus to protect the surrounding tissues from the fragmented denture while each fragment was safely and meticulously extracted.
Explaining the procedure, Dr. Shrihari Anikhindi, Consultant – Gastroenterology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said,
“The laser allowed us to safely break the denture into smaller fragments. The overtube protected the normal esophagus from sharp edges, enabling us to remove the foreign body without resorting to open surgery, which has considerable morbidity.”