Citation

Tomos I, Manali ED, Argentos S, Raptakis T, Papiris SA. Pneumonol. Alergol. Pol. 2015; 83(5): 392-393.

Affiliation

IInd Pulmonary Department, "Attikon" University Hospital, Athens Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. etomos@hotmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Via Medica)

DOI

10.5603/PiAP.2015.0063

PMID

26379002

Abstract

Gunshot tracheal injuries represent life-threatening events and usually necessitate emergent surgical intervention. We report a case of an exceptional finding of a patient with retained ballistic fragments in the soft tissues of the thorax, proximal to the right subclavian artery and the trachea, carrying silently his wounds for two decades without any medical or surgical intervention. The bullet pellet on the upper part of the trachea seen accidentally in the chest computed tomography, was also found during bronchoscopy. In short "luck's always to blame".

Language: en