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A Rare Cause of Epistaxis: Nasopharyngeal Leech Infestation

Leeches are rare cause of foreign body in airways. A 23-year-old male, experiencing epistaxis and difficulty in swallowing is presented. During nasopharyngoscopy, a moving leech was observed on the nasopharynx posterior wall in midline location, and removal of the leech was decided under general ana...

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Autores principales: Bektas, Meltem, Yarimoglu, Rafet, Ozcan, Ayse, Baltaci, Bulent, Basar, Hulya
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10423909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37583644
http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/ijpa.v18i2.13195
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author Bektas, Meltem
Yarimoglu, Rafet
Ozcan, Ayse
Baltaci, Bulent
Basar, Hulya
author_facet Bektas, Meltem
Yarimoglu, Rafet
Ozcan, Ayse
Baltaci, Bulent
Basar, Hulya
author_sort Bektas, Meltem
collection PubMed
description Leeches are rare cause of foreign body in airways. A 23-year-old male, experiencing epistaxis and difficulty in swallowing is presented. During nasopharyngoscopy, a moving leech was observed on the nasopharynx posterior wall in midline location, and removal of the leech was decided under general anaesthesia. The flexible nasopharyngoscopy was inserted, but removal was unsuccessful due to the leech’s movements. Leeches are blood-sucking parasites, so neuromuscular blocking agent was given to prevent the movement. After administration, motion of the leech was lost and easily removed undamaged. In patients presenting with unexplained epistaxis, hemoptysis, dyspnea, and foreign body sensation in the airway, leech infestation should be included as the differential diagnosis and history of contact with stream water should be questioned. We concluded that use of low dose neuromuscular blocking agents facilitates the gentle removal, and could be necessary for successful management of removal of leech under general anaesthesia.
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spelling pubmed-104239092023-08-15 A Rare Cause of Epistaxis: Nasopharyngeal Leech Infestation Bektas, Meltem Yarimoglu, Rafet Ozcan, Ayse Baltaci, Bulent Basar, Hulya Iran J Parasitol Case Report Leeches are rare cause of foreign body in airways. A 23-year-old male, experiencing epistaxis and difficulty in swallowing is presented. During nasopharyngoscopy, a moving leech was observed on the nasopharynx posterior wall in midline location, and removal of the leech was decided under general anaesthesia. The flexible nasopharyngoscopy was inserted, but removal was unsuccessful due to the leech’s movements. Leeches are blood-sucking parasites, so neuromuscular blocking agent was given to prevent the movement. After administration, motion of the leech was lost and easily removed undamaged. In patients presenting with unexplained epistaxis, hemoptysis, dyspnea, and foreign body sensation in the airway, leech infestation should be included as the differential diagnosis and history of contact with stream water should be questioned. We concluded that use of low dose neuromuscular blocking agents facilitates the gentle removal, and could be necessary for successful management of removal of leech under general anaesthesia. Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC10423909/ /pubmed/37583644 http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/ijpa.v18i2.13195 Text en Copyright © 2023 Bektas et al. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Case Report
Bektas, Meltem
Yarimoglu, Rafet
Ozcan, Ayse
Baltaci, Bulent
Basar, Hulya
A Rare Cause of Epistaxis: Nasopharyngeal Leech Infestation
title A Rare Cause of Epistaxis: Nasopharyngeal Leech Infestation
title_full A Rare Cause of Epistaxis: Nasopharyngeal Leech Infestation
title_fullStr A Rare Cause of Epistaxis: Nasopharyngeal Leech Infestation
title_full_unstemmed A Rare Cause of Epistaxis: Nasopharyngeal Leech Infestation
title_short A Rare Cause of Epistaxis: Nasopharyngeal Leech Infestation
title_sort rare cause of epistaxis: nasopharyngeal leech infestation
topic Case Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10423909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37583644
http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/ijpa.v18i2.13195
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