Doctors at the Kolkata Medical College and Hospital have saved the life of a six-year-old boy by removing a magnet that had got lodged in his right lung with the help of another specially designed magnet. The unusual procedure was carried out after repeated attempts with conventional medical instruments failed.

A child, Arafat Ali, hails from Baduria in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. On Tuesday, November 3, his mother brought him to the hospital with persistent coughing and breathing difficulties.

Medical examinations revealed that a small, amulet-shaped magnet had entered his respiratory tract and become lodged in the right bronchus, the passage that carries air into the lung. Doctors warned that the foreign object posed a serious threat to his life.

Repeated Attempts to Remove The Magnet Fail

After admitting the child to the ENT department and stabilising his condition, doctors attempted to remove the object through a procedure called bronchoscopy on Wednesday.

Associate Professor Dr Diptanshu Mukhopadhyay made four attempts to retrieve the magnet using forceps. However, the object repeatedly slipped away, making it difficult to secure a grip. ENT department head Professor Soumendranath Bandyopadhyay also tried to remove it but could not succeed.

They performed a tracheostomy to create an alternate opening in the airway so the child could continue to breathe. They also attempted to retrieve the magnet through this route, but those efforts were unsuccessful.

Then the medical team thought of doing a thoracotomy, a surgical procedure where an incision is made in the chest, and called SSKM Hospital for help. However, arranging a paediatric intensive care unit bed proved difficult.

Doctor Approaches Kolkata Workshop For A Solution

With conventional medical techniques failing, the doctors explored an unconventional idea: using a stronger magnet to attract and remove the one lodged inside the child's lung.

On Thursday morning, Dr Mukhopadhyay visited a lathe workshop in Maniktala, central Kolkata, and approached a worker named Prabhakar Karar. He showed the technician the child's X-ray images and explained the challenge.

Karar, a resident of Shyampur in Howrah, looked at the images and said the magnet stuck inside the child’s lung was a weak one, like the one used in toys.

He agreed to manufacture a stronger magnet of a specific shape and size that could be attached to the tip of surgical forceps and guided towards the lodged object.

The specially made device was designed according to the doctor's requirements. Karar later said he felt happy that his work had helped save a child's life.

Special Magnet Helps Doctors Complete The Procedure

The custom-made magnet reached the hospital later on Thursday, and the medical team immediately prepared for another attempt.

A six-member team led by Professor Bandyopadhyay, along with anaesthetists Debashis Ghosh and Atreyee Ghosh, carried out the procedure. Dr Mukhopadhyay and other doctors were also part of the team.

This time the stronger magnet had successfully pulled the foreign object out.The doctors very gently took it out from the tracheostomy hole, making sure it didn’t go deeper into the respiratory tract.

The magnet had been stuck in the child's lung for about three days. Following its successful removal, normal airflow was restored to both lungs.

Child In Intensive Care Unit Recovering

The procedure was followed and Arafat was transferred to the intensive care unit for continued monitoring and treatment.

“We are relieved that the outcome has been successful. The child’s lungs are again flowing air and he is recovering in the ICU,” Dr Mukhopadhyay said.

This incident highlights the significance of the collaboration of the medical professionals and a technician from a local workshop in overcoming a difficult medical situation and saving the life of a young patient.