title: An unusual chest impalement.
abstract: We present the case of a 49-year old farmer, a combatant in communal clash over a piece of farmland on the Jos Plateau, who was impaled on his chest by a 13.5 cm long metal arrow, 56 hours prior to presentation. The arrow hit him tangentially on the left side of the chest and disappeared completely into his chest traversing the chest wall and lacerating the superior lingula segment of the lung but the tip of the arrow was only about 1.5 cm short of the pericardium. We are not aware of any report in literature on a patient in the West African sub-region who sustained and survived such serious chest impalement by a rigid object for more than two days before hospitalisation. Sustained public education and enforced legislature against the use of such lethal weapons will go a long way in preventing serious injuries of this nature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Ugwu
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yiltok
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Dakum
authors.forename: G O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Ode
authors.forename: V Y
authors.initials: VY
authors.lastname: Ameh
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria; D011859:Radiography; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D014857:Warfare; D014951:Wounds, Stab / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery