Doctors at Shaare Zedek Medical Center recently saved the life of a two-year-old girl after a tiny piece of almond became lodged in her airway.
Her mother recalled that after swallowing the almond, her daughter showed “ongoing signs of difficulty breathing,” but when the symptoms appeared to ease, the family did not initially realise the seriousness of the situation. The next morning, concerned by persistent coughing, they brought her to Shaare Zedek.
Although initial tests showed no clear obstruction, the paediatric emergency team trusted their clinical instincts and admitted the child for observation — a decision that proved lifesaving. When her condition worsened overnight, specialists carried out an emergency bronchoscopy and discovered the almond shard dangerously blocking her airway.
Dr Leon Joseph, senior paediatric pulmonologist, explained that while the fragment measured only five millimetres, “such an obstruction could definitely be life-threatening” for a child so young.
Thanks to the expertise and rapid response of Shaare Zedek’s emergency, intensive care and ENT teams, the obstruction was safely removed and the child made a full recovery.
