The lunch that ended in surgery: "A particularly complex and dramatic case"

A 70-year-old man was rushed to Wolfson Medical Center's emergency room after a lunch that caused chest pain and difficulty swallowing. A CT scan revealed a sharp fish bone lodged in the esophageal wall. The patient was taken to the operating room, where the bone was removed intact under general anesthesia with airway protection. He was discharged the next day without complications.

A 70-year-old man was rushed to the emergency room at Wolfson Medical Center after eating lunch last Wednesday and developing chest pain and increasing difficulty swallowing. An urgent CT scan revealed a sharp, long fish bone lodged in the esophageal wall. The patient was taken to the operating room, where a combined medical team extracted the bone intact under general anesthesia and intubation to protect the airway. The procedure was performed via gastroscopy with precise maneuvering, without causing a tear in the esophagus. The patient was discharged the next day. Dr. Tamar Shalev, a senior physician at the Institute of Gastroenterology, described the case as particularly complex and dramatic due to the bone's location at the overlap between gastroenterology and otolaryngology. She calls on the public not to ignore symptoms such as difficulty swallowing, pain while swallowing, or excessive drooling after eating fish or meat, and to go to the emergency room immediately.

The lunch that ended in surgery: "A particularly complex and dramatic case"