Pen-cap extracted from man's lung

No sooner had he done it, the pen's cap slipped into his throat and what followed was days of intense bouts of coughing and shortness of breath, forcing Gupta, a Jammu resident, to seek medical help.

Initial diagnosis at the hospital revealed Gupta had lung tumour and he was advised to go for a surgery.

Wanting a second opinion before the operation, he approached Dr Ravneet Grover, a noted chest specialist in the city, who diagnosed that the patient had a foreign body lodged in the main bronchus (lung pipe ) of the left lung.

"It is the rarest case where a foreign body other than fish or meat bone is seen in an adult and it is a surprise that he managed to survive with it for five days," Grover told reporters here today.

The pen-cap was removed through bronchoscopy (where an instrument is inserted into the airway through the nose or mouth) under general anaesthesia, without any surgical procedure, said Grover. The patient was discharged after two days in hospital.