A needle that has been "lurking" in the body for nearly 30 years sounds incredible and scary?
On December 21, Wang Xiangan, deputy chief physician of the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu Medical College, Nuclear Industry 416 Hospital, removed a metal foreign body from the chest wall for a patient and found that it should be an ordinary embroidery needle. Extrapolating from the state of carbonization, it may be that the patient accidentally inserted it into the body during infancy and infancy. That said, it may have been in patients' bodies for nearly 30 years.
On 23 December, the patient recovered and was discharged from the hospital.
The woman felt nothing
However, the physical examination revealed a metal foreign body in the chest cavity
On December 20, the patient, Xiao Liu (pseudonym), went to the hospital for treatment. Without any abnormal feelings, she was told that there was a metal foreign body in the chest cavity during the unit physical examination, and it was recommended to go to the thoracic surgery department of the hospital.
"(Physical examination prompts) There is a metal foreign body on the right chest wall, but the patient cannot recall any history of trauma." Wang Xiangan said that no family member could tell how she was injured. Wang Xiangan examined the patient's body and did not find the scar from the body surface, "but when pressing the area where the foreign body is present, there is a slight feeling of tenderness." "But imaging tests show that metal foreign bodies do exist.
▲Wang Xiangan, deputy chief physician of the Department of Thoracic Surgery of 416 Hospital of Nuclear Industry.
Wang Xiangan said that doctors and patients are very strange, how does foreign body enter the body?
From the imaging results, the doctor found that the metal foreign body was inserted downward from the right chest wall of the patient against the right edge of the sternum, with a length of about 1.5 cm. Due to the certain angle of inclination, it has not yet penetrated the chest cavity, but it is very close to the pleura. "Once pierced into the pleura, it can cause damage to the heart, lungs or large blood vessels. If it is serious, it will be life-threatening. ”
▲Imaging examination shows that there is a metal foreign body in the chest cavity.
Precise positioning and removal
It is only three or four millimeters from the pleura
On December 21, Wang Xiangan performed foreign body removal surgery for the patient. During the operation, it was found that the metal foreign body had been carbonized, indicating that it had been in the body for a very long time. Based on the length and morphology of the metal foreign body of about 1.5 centimeters, the doctor deduced that it was an ordinary embroidery needle.
"During the operation, it was found that the position of the puncture was relatively deep, and the tip of the needle was only three or four millimeters away from the pleura." Wang Xiangan said that this depth also brings certain difficulties and risks to the operation. Because during the operation, the needle may be displaced, if it continues to be inserted, it is likely to hurt the heart and lung organs and important blood vessels. Precise positioning is the key to surgery, and after using the intraoperative C-arm machine positioning, the location of the foreign body is accurately found.
▲ Foreign body removed from the patient's body: a carbonized embroidery needle.
Wang Xiangan deduced that this embroidery needle should have been accidentally inserted into the body when the patient's infant and infancy were extremely weak in perception. "If it happens over 2 years old, the pinprick injury will have severe pain, but the patient does not have any memory of the pain." Wang Xiangan said that the needle is very fine, the wound is very small, so it is not easy to be found, foreign bodies are rare and do not cause serious inflammatory rejection, the body adapts to the presence of foreign bodies, so patients do not have obvious feelings for such a long time, which is extremely rare clinically. "(Severe inflammatory rejection) wounds can be infected with seepage, suppuration, pain, and if any, have long been detected."
Wang Xiangan reminded parents that there is no small matter in taking care of their children, and it should not be taken lightly. Sharp objects should not be placed next to the child, especially after sewing clothes, do not forget the needle on the clothes, causing unnecessary harm.
Red Star News reporter Yu Zunsu photo report Part of the picture according to the hospital
Edited by Peng Jiang
(Download Red Star News, there are prizes for the newspaper!) ）