Battery Removed from Toddler’s Nose in Tzefas Hospital

Doctors at Ziv Medical Center in Tzefas removed a button-size battery from the nose of a four-year-old boy, according to Arutz Sheva on Wednesday.

The boy complained of severe pain after inserting the object into his nose about 12 hours earlier. His mother rushed him to the pediatric emergency room at Ziv, where Dr. Ella Even Tov, a senior Ear, Nose, and Throat physician, extracted the battery.

Batteries are more dangerous than other foreign objects that children commonly put in their mouths or noses during play, and constitute a medical emergency.

“A battery is seemingly like any other foreign object, such as money, beads, etc. But in reality it is an emergency situation, because when a battery comes into contact with the body and its fluids, it begins to generate electrical currents that cause pain and leak dangerous corrosive material, causing severe chemical burns to the tissues, so it must be removed from the body without delay and every minute counts,” Dr. Even Tov explained.

“In the present case, we managed to remove the battery immediately, made possible by preparing him for general anesthesia, after he’d been fasting, and endoscopic exploration of the nasal cavity, damage assessment, removing remaining secretions and necrosis,” she said.

The child’s recovery will be monitored to see if any further treatment is required.