Bengaluru: A 12-year-old girl, Shanthi, who had suffered for over one and a half years from persistant cough and irritation in the respiratory tract was relieved of her distress when an ear stud that was found in 12-year-old Shanti’s lung was removed after an operation at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases here.

A simple X-ray helped solve a problem, a solution that eluded private hospitals in her hometown of Sirguppa in Ballari district. She had been given symptomatic treatment.

Shanti had swallowed her ear stud comprising metallic and plastic parts and her family thought she would defecate it. Shanti’s brother, Ramu, said: “She told us that she had swallowed it while coughing. We did not worry much thinking it had entered her stomach. Doctors there said it was fluid accumulation in the lungs.”

Dr Shashidhar Buggi, director, RGICD, said the girl was brought to the hospital with severe infection and threw up foul smelling sputum.

“Had the doctors taken an X-ray and examined her thoroughly, she would not have suffered so much. Through an X-ray, we found that there was a foreign object resembling a pin. On questioning, she explained the incident,” he added.

The right lower lobe was infected and there was lung abscess. As there was fibrosis, an endoscopy could not be done, Dr Buggi added.

It took over four weeks to prepare Shanti for the surgery and she is now recovering at the hospital.

Doctors said in the past they have removed several foreign objects from patients’ lungs, including broken tooth, plastic toy, pieces of gold and small springs.