Article Text
Abstract
A 69-year-old woman with a history of multiple hospital attendances for cardiac and neurological symptoms, presented with multifocal cerebral infarcts due to embolisation from retained guide wires and was referred for retrieval of two wires. One was intracardiac and the other had migrated through major vascular structures, breeching anatomical boundaries. Just before surgery, she half-expectorated a 35 cm wire that was removed with a video laryngoscope. Three days later, the second wire had traversed the right ventricular myocardium in an attempt to exteriorise, and a 7 cm wire was removed by emergency left anterior mini-thoracotomy. Her recovery was uneventful.
- cardiothoracic surgery
- interventional radiology
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Footnotes
Twitter @bennygx007, @laateh
Contributors BO was involved in the planning, conduct, conception and design, data collection and analysis, reporting, interpretation of data and drafting of this manuscript and its revision. YH was involved in the planning, conduct and drafting of this manuscript. DZ was involved in the planning, conduct and drafting of this manuscript. DN was involved in the planning, conduct, design, reporting, interpretation of data and drafting of this manuscript and its revision.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.