A 14-MONTH-OLD girl accidentally swallowed a small binder clip that got stuck in her throat. Doctors of five departments at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital conducted a two-hour surgery on the girl and retrieved the binder clip, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.

    The girl is no longer in danger, but remains under observation in the hospital.

    The girl, identified as Rong Rong, was sent to the children’s hospital after swallowing a binder clip at about 9 a.m. Tuesday. Medical examinations show that the 2-centimeter-wide binder clip became stuck in her esophagus.

    Liang Zhenjiang, director of the hospital’s ENT department, said the esophagus of small children is very fragile. “If the binder clip rips her esophagus, it would be dangerous,” he said.

    Doctors tried to use several tools to retrieve the binder clip, but failed because her esophagus was too narrow. Doctors proposed to make a small incision on the girl’s neck, but her parents refused this option.

    Doctors from five departments including anesthesiology, chest surgery and gastroenterology held a consultation on the girl’s case and decided to perform a surgery on the girl using an endoscope.

    The type of surgery they decided on requires the patient to have an empty stomach, but the girl had eaten breakfast. So she was banned from eating any food and the surgery was postponed to 3 p.m. to allow the food in her stomach to be fully digested, according to the hospital.

    More than a dozen doctors and nurses joined in on the surgery, during which the girl was under complete anesthesia. After two hours of operation, the binder clip was taken out.

    The number of cases in which children accidentally swallow small objects that get stuck in their esophagus has increased by threefold in the past five years, to 126 cases in 2013, according to Shenzhen Children’s Hospital. Children involved in these cases are normally around 12 months old, the hospital said.

    Coins are the most commonly swallowed obstructive object by children. Other objects that can be easily lodge in children’s throats include peanuts, sunflower seeds, walnut, litchi, fish bones, chicken bones and date pits.

    Doctors said it’s dangerous to have children drink water or vomit after they swallow an object.

    (Zhang Yang)