A team of cardiologists at Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, conducted a detailed examination of Sumayya, the 24-year-old woman from Kattakkada, on Friday, to determine if it is possible to retrieve or extricate the guide wire stuck inside her chest – following a thyroidectomy surgery she underwent two years ago at General Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.
Doctors examined her in the Cath lab and minimally invasive procedures were used to check the position of the guide wire to see if it is amenable to retrieval and whether the attempts to retrieve can cause potential harm to the patient.
The woman had undergone thyroid removal surgery in March 2023 at the General Hospital. The fact that the guide wire, which had been used to insert a central line during surgery, was still stuck inside her was revealed in April 2025, during one of her follow-up treatment visits at the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), when an X-ray was taken
Medical board
The government had constituted a medical board, which consisted of experts from the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology — from the fields of cardiovascular thoracic surgery, radiodiagnosis, anaesthesiology and general surgery and radiology and interventional radiology — to examine Sumayya’s case.
Two weeks ago, the medical board had given a consensus opinion that attempts to retrieve the guide wire which has become fused with the vein could be dangerous.
It had opined that attempts to retrieve the guide wire, which has become endothelialized (endothelial cell lining has covered the guide wire making it a part of the vein), would be potentially dangerous to the patient and that since the position of the guide wire had become fixed, it would not pose any risks to the patient.
It was on the basis of the opinion of the medical board that Sumayya was subjected to a detailed medical examination at MCH on Friday to decide on the further course of action.
Published – October 10, 2025 10:32 pm IST
