PRESENTATION OF CASE: We report three cases of extraluminal fish bone migration with diverse clinical presentations and complications. The first patient had mild throat symptoms and a fish bone that travelled through the neck and migrated towards the subcutaneous tissue without causing complications. The second patient developed deep neck abscess and thoracic complications as a result of the migrated foreign body, but recovered after surgical exploration and foreign body removal. The third patient presented late in sepsis and upper airway obstruction, subsequently succumbed to multiorgan failure before any surgical intervention.
DISCUSSION: Thorough physical and endoscopy examinations are essential in patients with fish bone ingestion. Normal endoscopic findings in a symptomatic patient should always raise the suspicion of a migrated fish bone. A radiographic imaging study is often helpful in locating the foreign body and potential complications. The migrated fish bone that acts as the source of infection in the neck should be traced and removed surgically. The resulting abscess, if present, must be drained. The management of a migrated fish bone can be challenging and often require multi-discipline collaboration.
CONCLUSION: The migration of the ingested fish bone outside the upper aerodigestive tract can cause serious complications and death in some cases. Clinicians should always maintain a high level of suspicion towards extraluminal migration in a patient with a history of fish bone ingestions but normal endoscopic findings. We emphasize the importance of early recognition and prompt surgical intervention to remove the migrated fish bone to minimise the potential morbidity and mortality.
METHODS: In the current project, we have described two extraction-free reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 by using E gene and RdRp gene as the targets.
RESULTS: Here, results showed that reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification assays with 88.4% sensitive (95% CI: 74.9-96.1%) and 67.4% sensitive (95% CI: 51.5-80.9%) for E gene and RdRp gene, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Without the need of RNA purification, our developed RT-LAMP assays for direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 from nasopharyngeal swab samples could be turned into alternatives to qRT-PCR for rapid screening.
DESIGN: A prospective interventional and observational study.
METHODOLOGY: We formed a quality improvement (QI) team in our SNCU consisting of doctors, nurses, auxiliary staff and parents (a floating member) to improve proper use of AHR. To identify the barriers to the problem, we used fishbone analysis tool. The barriers which were not allowing the health providers to use AHR properly identified were amount of AHR in millilitres to be used per day per baby, how much and when the amount of AHR to be indented from the main store and what is the proper site to place the bottle. We used plan-do-study-act cycles to test and adapt solutions to these problems. Within 5-6 weeks of starting our project, AHR use increased from 44 mL to 92 mL per baby per day and this is sustained around 100 mL per baby per day for over 2 years now.
RESULTS: Significant decrease in neonatal mortality was observed (reduced from median of 41.0 between August 2016 and April 2018 to 24.0 between May 2018 and December 2019). The neonates discharged alive improved from 41.2 to 52.3 as a median percentage value. The percentage of babies who were referred out and went Left Against Medical Advice (LAMA) deceased too.
CONCLUSION: Multiple factors can lead to neonatal deaths, but the important factors are always contextual to facilities. QI methodology provides health workers with the skills to identify the major factors contributing to mortality and develop strategies to deal with them. Improving processes of care can lead to improved hand hygiene and saves lives.