title: A Close Call: An Impacted Knife Injury to the Thorax.
abstract: A 21-year-old woman with a history of psychiatric treatment was admitted to the emergency department with self-inflicted stab wounds to the neck, chest, and abdomen as the result of a suicide attempt. Inspection showed a seemingly superficial cut at the jugular fossa. The patient's mother stated that one long ceramic kitchen bread knife was totally embedded in the right thorax. Further diagnostic measures showed the missing kitchen bread knife penetrating the right chest, with the path of insertion starting 2 cm above the right clavicle and the blade in contact with the right hilum and ending next to the seventh thoracic vertebra. Retrieval the object was a challenging problem.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplant, and Vascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: kaufeld.tim@mh-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaufeld
authors.affiliation: Trauma Department, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zeckey
authors.affiliation: Institute for Interventional and Diagnostic Radiology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marquardt
authors.affiliation: Trauma Department, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Krettek
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplant, and Vascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haverich
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplant, and Vascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tudorache
mesh_terms: D000072226:Computed Tomography Angiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D013406:Suicide, Attempted; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D014951:Wounds, Stab / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult