28 years on, betel nut pulled out of man's lung

Seventy-five-year-old Krishna Kant Jha is now a relaxed man. After 28 years of suffering from chronic cough and regular bouts of fits, a piece of betel nut was found to be cause of his problems and was finally extricated from his lungs.

Jha, an advocate in Samastipur district, said he suffered for more than two and half decades. Dozens of doctors treated him but failed to discover the betel nut in his lungs.

"It was a betel nut that was embedded in my lung, and used to obstruct my airway. It was like life in hell but now I am happy and healthy," Jha said.

Jha said he consulted several doctors in and outside Bihar since 1985.

"But all of them treated me for different ailments, including chest infection to pneumonia and tuberculosis and also for epilepsy. They failed to trace the betel nut, and never diagnosed it," he said.

Finally, chest specialist Sudhir Kumar discovered the betel nut lodged in Jha's lungs.

"When I consulted him for treatment, he found the betel nut in my lung and said it was the cause of my health problems for years," he said.

Sudhir Kumar along with anaesthetic Subhash Kumar, both based in Patna, successfully performed bronchoscopy on Jha to extricate the betel nut.

Bronchoscopy is a non-surgical procedure in which an illuminated fibre optic cable is inserted into the wind pipe of the lungs.

"We extricated a betel nut, measuring 10 mm in diameter, from Jha's lung," Sudhir Kumar said.

Jha no longer suffers from severe cough and bouts of unconsciousness that he suffered three-four times a day.

Jha said he was a habitual betel-nut chewer and had swallowed the nut over two-and-a-half decades back that proved painful for him for so many years.

"Thanks to Dr. Sudhir, I will enjoy my life now," Jha said.