title: Thoracoscopic removal of an intrathoracic Kirschner wire. Case report.
abstract: We report the clinical case of a clinical case of a 50-year-old woman who had a very rare complication related to the insertion of Kirschner wires for fixation of a left humerus fracture. Sixteen years after the placement of the Kirschner wires, a routine chest X-ray revealed that one of the Kirschner wires had migrated through the pleural cavity. Chest computed tomographic scans confirmed the presence of a metallic wire inside the left lung parenchyma, adjacent to the superior pulmonary artery. This particular case was managed through a video-assisted thoracoscopic approach, and the wire was easily removed from the pleural cavity, thereby avoiding the need of a thoracotomy.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Cirurgia Cardiotorácica do Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, Portugal.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guerra
mesh_terms: D001864:Bone Wires; D020878:Device Removal / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005548:Foreign-Body Migration / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013906:Thoracoscopy