A one-cm long screw of a nose pin was recovered from the lungs of a woman in a procedure at Amrita hospital.

The 44-year old woman from Kollam, who had lost the screw of her nose pin 12 years ago, got it back through an interventional procedure. While the main part of the nose pin was found from her house, the screw part of it was never found. It was concluded after many searches in the house that the nose pin screw might have fallen elsewhere.

It was when the woman was subjected to a scan of the lungs before a scheduled surgery at a private hospital in Kollam last week that the doctors found an object stuck in the lungs.  She was henceforth referred to Amrita Hospital in Kochi for expert treatment.

A team headed by Dr. Tinku Joseph in Interventional Pulmonology, who examined the object in the body, came to a conclusion that it was indeed a small screw of a nose jewel. Using a Rigid Bronchoscopy, Dr. Joseph, assisted by Dr. Sriraj Nair and Dr Tony Jose, took out the nose pin screw in an interventional procedure, thus avoiding a surgery. She was discharged after a day’s rest.

The doctor’s concluded that the screw might have loosened and fallen into the mouth cavity and would have reached the lungs. The woman had been taking treatment all these years for respiratory problems and other related problems like asthma.