title: Wandering intravascular missiles: report of five cases from the Lebanon war.
abstract: From 1980 to 1986, during the Lebanon war, five patients with missile embolization were seen at the American University of Beirut Medical Center. Three had entry in the heart or thoracic aorta with peripheral embolization, and two had entry in the internal carotid artery and inferior vena cava with embolization to the middle cerebral artery and heart, respectively. Embolization was suspected when, in the absence of an exit, routine x-ray films showed the missile in a distant location. Angiography and echocardiography confirmed the diagnosis. Peripheral arterial emboli were extracted while cerebral and venous emboli were kept, as they caused transient symptoms and remained silent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Lebanon.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abdo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Massad
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Slim
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fahl
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saba
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Najjar
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Saad
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods; D002536:Cerebral Arteries; D004617:Embolism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications*; D005548:Foreign-Body Migration / Q000150:complications*; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D007083:Iliac Artery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000150:complications*