Kochi, Jun 7 (IANS): A necklace bead, which accidentally got stuck in the lungs of an year-old child, was successfully removed by a team of doctors at a hospital near here.

A couple -- Binshad and Fathima -- noticed a severe cough in their one-year-old kid.

They immediately took him to a nearby hospital, where an X-ray revealed the presence of a foreign body in the child's lungs.

After being referred to two-three hospitals due to the complexity, the infant was finally taken to Amrita Hospitals.

A team of doctors headed by Dr Tinku Joseph, Chief Interventional Pulmonologist successfully removed the impacted necklace bead from the upper lobe of the left lung by rigid bronchoscopy procedure.

"The impacted foreign body was the cause of recurrent chest infection which the child suffered from, and such rare instances should be suspected in both pediatric and adult age groups who suffer from recurrent non-resolving pneumonia.

"The procedure lasted for nearly 30 minutes and the child was discharged from the hospital within 24 hours after the procedure. The removal was a difficult task. In this case, it was impacted within one of the most difficult sites to retrieve a foreign body, the left upper lobe," said Dr Joseph.

It is believed that the child would have accidentally aspirated it while playing. However, the child's parents were unaware of how it exactly happened.