Choking is a common medical emergency,especially in children younger than 5 years old.Many adults also suffer from this.
We will specially talk about child here.
Most of the events of choking are caused by toy parts,seeds,nuts,pebbles,buttons or coins.
The usual presentation is with sudden onset cough,gagging or stridor with or without respiratory distress.
A foreign body obstructing the upper airway completely can cause hypoxemia(lack of oxygen),cyanosis(bluish discoloration of skin) and secondary cardaic arrest.If the obstruction is partial the child can speak,breathe or cough.
Patients with choking require immediate relief.
PROCEDURE:-
A choking infant younger than 1 year is placed face down over the rescuer's arm,with the head positioned below the trunk.Five controlled back blows should be given rapidly between the scapula with the heel of hand.If the obstruction persist,child is rolled over and five chest compressions are given and again the back blows repeated until patient gets relieved.
Heimlich manuever-
Abdominal thrusts may be performed in children over 1 year of age.However special care should be taken to avoid injury to any abdominal organs.
For unconscious apneic child, a tongue jaw lift can be performed by grasping both tongue and lower jaw between the thumb and finger lifting.This should be done by an expert.
Bronchoscopy required for deep obstruction.
Comment if you or someone close to you have encountered such incident.Hope this post will help you.
Thank you
