[Penetrating foreign body in the left ventricle with undetected chronic evolution].
Penetrating cardiac trauma constitutes a serious threat for life. Less than the third part of all patients who suffer it arrives at the hospital alive, and half of them die. Most of the penetrating foreign bodies in the heart are metallic, and are frequently caused by firearms and rarely by self-injury. The accidental penetration is uncommon but inadvertent penetration is extremely rare. We present the case of a patient who suffered a closed-chest trauma and did not notice the penetration of a foreign body (copper wire fragment) in the heart. It remained lodged in the left ventricle for more than 3 months. This it is the only case reported in the literature where a strange body: a) crosses the free wall of the right ventricle, the right ventricular cavity, interventricular septum, and the mitral valve apparatus; b) occupies almost all the anteroposterior diameter of the heart, and c) did not produce acute or chronic bleeding.
Moreno-Martínez
Francisco L
FL
Unidad de Hemodinámica y Cardiología Intervencionista, Cardiocentro Ernesto Che Guevara, Villa Clara, Cuba. flmorenom@yahoo.com
Lagomasino Hidalgo
Alvaro L
AL
Chao García
Jean L
JL
Bermúdez Yera
Gustavo
G
Ibargollín Hernández
Rosendo
R
Vega Fleites
Luis Felipe
LF
Medrano Plana
Yuri
Y
Castañeda Casarvilla
Luis
L
Pérez
Guillermo A
GA
Monteagudo Lima
Luis
L
López-Bernal
Omaida J
OJ
D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000293:injuries*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000175:diagnosis*