1. Left ventricular perforation from a dislodged needle migrating via a pulmonary artery branch in an intravenous drug user.
- Author
-
Waidyanatha S and Sekhsaria S
- Subjects
- Adult, Cardiopulmonary Bypass, Echocardiography, Foreign-Body Migration complications, Foreign-Body Migration surgery, Heart Injuries etiology, Heart Injuries surgery, Heart Ventricles diagnostic imaging, Heart Ventricles surgery, Humans, Lung blood supply, Lung diagnostic imaging, Lung surgery, Male, Pericardiocentesis, Pulmonary Artery diagnostic imaging, Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted, Treatment Outcome, Foreign-Body Migration diagnosis, Heart Injuries diagnosis, Heart Ventricles injuries, Needles adverse effects, Substance Abuse, Intravenous complications
- Abstract
Embolised needles causing injury to the right heart and cardiac tamponade has been reported before in intravenous drug users, but to our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a needle migrating via the pulmonary arterial system to cause perforation of the left ventricle. Appropriate utilisation of imaging modalities such as plain X-ray and point-of-care focused cardiac ultrasound can be vital and life-saving in the emergency setting, and the value of gated multidetector CT as a powerful tool for imaging moving structures is highlighted., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
- Published
- 2021
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