Citation

Marrufo AS, Boyd WD, Leshikar DE. Trauma Case Rep 2019; 22: e100210.

Affiliation

Department of General Surgery, Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, UC Davis Health, Sacramento, CA, United States of America.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.tcr.2019.100210

PMID

31338405

PMCID

PMC6610230

Abstract

Bean bag guns are considered "non-lethal" weapons used by law enforcement. There are emerging reports in the medical literature on management of penetrating, intrathoracic injuries and none were found that involve potential cardiac complications. We present a case of a penetrating bean bag involving the pericardium. A young, adult man was shot in the left axillary region by law enforcement and presented hemodynamically stable. Computed Tomography (CT) demonstrated a bean bag anterolateral to the pericardium, associated with a small pulmonary contusion and hemopneumothorax. He underwent a left tube thoracostomy and sub-xiphoid pericardial window with cardiopulmonary bypass on standby. The diagnostic pericardial window showed no pericardial effusion and the foreign body extraction was successfully performed through the subxiphoid incision via Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery. There were no intra-operative or post-operative complications.

Language: en

Keywords

Bean bag; Gun; Non-lethal; Projectile; Surgery; Thoracoscopic