Self-Inserted Needles in the Heart.
Cardiac injuries due to penetration by sharp foreign bodies usually have a clear clinical presentation. A case of a 38-year-old man with self-inserted cardiac lesions and a misleading presentation is reported. The patient was admitted to the emergency room because of chest pain, with increase in biomarkers of myocardial necrosis, and electrocardiographic and echocardiographic abnormalities inducing initial diagnostic and therapeutic workup of acute coronary syndrome. Once clinical destabilization followed by death had occurred, the suspicion of an alternative diagnosis came from delayed chest radiography, confirmed by autopsy, revealing the presence of multiple metallic objects within the thorax.
Section of Legal Medicine, University of Pisa, S. Chiara Hospital, Pisa, Italy.
Marco
M
Di Paolo
ASL2 Lucca Hospital, Lucca, Italy.
Benedetta
B
Guidi
Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy; Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy.
Giuseppe
G
Vergaro
Fondazione G. Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana, Pisa, Italy; Institute of Life Sciences, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. Electronic address: emdin@ftgm.it.
Michele
M
Emdin
D000328:Adult; D006335:Heart Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009339:Needles; D013405:Suicide; D014951:Wounds, Stab / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology