SWALLOWED A TACK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5142, 22 June 1927, Page 1

SWALLOWED A TACK.

BOY’S NARROW ESCAPE. VERY CLOSE TO DEATH. A friendly pat on the back from I'G brother a few days ago came "’thin an ace of costing George Leslie Leach, a 14-yenrold Lt. Peters boy, his life (says a Sydney paper). Leach is one of the few people to swallow an outsize in upholstering tacks deep into a. bronchial tube and live to tel the tale. That he escaped a short shaip 1 ness culminating inevitabb in death is due solely tn the dexterity of medical men at the Royal Piince Alfred pita), aided by one of the most remarkable instruments in the surgical outfit. On a recent Friday afternoon young Leach, employed in his father’s upholstering factory in King Street, St. Peters was busy tacking the webbing oil an’easy chair. As is customary among many upholsterers, he had the tacks in his iriou.th, producing them with his tongue as required. Presently his brother approached, greeted him good-naturedly, and gave him a pat on the back. In a sudden in-rush of breath Leach swallowed one of the tacks. “I have swallowed them before, ’ he said several days later, “and nothing ever came of it, because they went to the stomach. But as soon as I swallowed this one there was a sharp pain in my chest. I couldn’t stop coughing, and knew something was wrong.” Further pats on the back, ,in an attempt to dislodge the tack, only sent it down farther, and the boy was then taken post haste to the Prince Alfred Hospital. He was immediately X-rayed, and the tack located deep down in the right bronchial tube, almost at the entrance to the lung. Under an operation that evening efforts to extract the tack were fruitless. A second attempt was made- on the Monday, again without success, as the bronchoscope, the instrument used, filled the passage and prevented breathing, as well as the continued administration of the anaesthetic. Armed with another bronchoscope, specially ■ constructed so as not to hinder breathing, the doctors returned to the attack on the following day, and succeeded in bringing the foieign body to light. Young Leach is still feeling the effects of his perilous experience, and of the operations, but he is well on the, road to recovery. How close he came to losing his life may be realised when it is stated that the continued presence of such an object in his bronchial tube would speedily set up ulceration or pneumonia, both of which would end in death. The bronchoscope, which is used for such operations, is one of the most interesting of surgical instruments. It consists f a tube, varying in length up to about 12 inches, at the base of which is a tiny electric bulb. Looking through this tube with a. system of mirrors, on the periscope plan, the operator can explore internal passages. Having found the foreign body, a tiny pair of tweezers at the end of the tube are brought into play, and the rest is a comparatively simple matter. ■ 111