title: Massive hemoptysis after aspiration of a toothpick.
abstract: A 42-year-old man presented with massive hemoptysis. His past medical history was significant for a bayonet injury to the left chest several years ago. A chest computed tomographic scan showed a radio-opaque foreign body in the left lower lobe. A left thoracotomy was performed because of unrelenting hemoptysis in association with a foreign body that could not be retrieved by bronchoscopy. At surgery, a toothpick covered with blood was retrieved from the left lower lobe bronchus. A left lower lobectomy was performed because a lung abscess was present. Postoperatively, the patient confirmed that 1 year prior he had fallen asleep with a toothpick in his mouth while intoxicated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0001, USA.
authors.forename: Rajeev P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Misra
authors.forename: Charles A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Dietl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001980:Bronchi; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005548:Foreign-Body Migration / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006469:Hemoptysis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed