A 72-year-old man was admitted with one blade of a huge pair of shears in his left thorax. His hemodynamics deteriorated due to life-threatening vascular lesions. An urgent thoracotomy revealed several injuries to the intercostal vessels and left apical inferior lung lobe. The blade tip was stuck in the posterior chest wall, 2 cm adjacent to the descending aorta. The blade was removed, the lung was sutured, and the patient made a good recovery.
RossbachMMJohnsonSBGomezMASakoEYMillerOLCalhoonJH. Management of major tracheobronchial injuries: a 28-year experience. Ann Thorac Surg1998; 65: 182–186.
2.
ThomasMOOgunleyeEO. Penetrating chest trauma in Nigeria. Asian Cardiovasc Thorac Ann2005; 13: 103–106.
3.
GoniewiczMPerygaPPiejakT. The stabbed wounds as a cause of injuries of different parts of the body. Ann Univ Mariae Curie Sklodowka Med2004; 59: 193–199.
4.
Moreno-MartínezFLLagomasino HidalgoALChao GarcíaJLBermúdez YeraGIbargollín HernándezRVega FleitesLF. Penetrating foreign body in the left ventricle with undetected chronic evolution. Arch Cardiol Mex2009; 79: 46–50.
5.
TominagaGTWaxmanKScannellGAnnasCOttRAGazzanigaAB. Emergency thoracotomy with lung resection following trauma. Am Surg1993; 59: 834–837.
6.
DemirhanROnanBOzKHalezerogluS. Comprehensive analysis of 4205 patients with chest trauma: a 10-year experience. Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg2009; 9: 450–453.
7.
ShorrRMCrittendenMIndeckMHartunianSLRodriguezA. Blunt thoracic trauma. Analysis of 515 patients. Ann Surg1987; 206: 200–205.
