A 55-year-old male patient was admitted to the emergency service with dyspnea, stabbing chest pain. The symptom had first appeared 3 days earlier. The patient’s medical history showed that he had undergone a fixation operation using K-wire and plate for treatment of the right sternoclavicular joint dislocation about 5 months prior(Fig. A, B). His vital signs were stable in physical examination. Chest radiograph showed a broken K-wire around sternoclavicular joint and a linear metallic foreign body in thorax (Fig. C). Chest computerized tomography revealed the metallic foreign body in the heart (Fig. D–F). There was no evidence of cardiac tamponade or segmental wall motion abnormality in preoperative transthoracic echocardiography. Removal of the wire was recommended and the patient underwent cardiac surgery under general anesthesia via median sternotomy without cardiopulmonary bypass. After pericardiotomy, there was about 50 ml old hematocele in pericardium. The broken K-wire was located between the aorta and the pulmonary artery, behind the right auricle (Fig. ). Because the wire had a linear shape, it was removed easily. There was an 8 millimeter diameter hematoma caused by K-wire in the anterior wall of the ascending aorta. After clearing the hematoma, the local bleeding tissue was sutured. There was no injury to the heart muscle. The pericardium was closed in standard fashion. There were not any cardiac conduction and rhythm disturbances intra-operatively. Then the K-wire retained around the sternoclavicular joint was removed. The entire intra-operative blood loss was about 100 ml. Follow-up chest radiograph was performed on the third postoperative day (Fig. G, H). The patient recovered without any complications and was discharged on the 7th postoperative day. In follow-up 1 year post-surgery, the patient had no particular symptoms such as cough, chest pain and irregular heartbeat.
A 34-year-old Taiwanese man presented to our emergency department with a 3-day history of coughing and chest tightness. He had a history of essential hypertension and congestive heart failure followed up at our cardiovascular department and under medication control. He was an express delivery worker with right hand dominance.\nA chest radiograph on November 16, 2018, revealed metallic internal fixation pins and wire over his right clavicle, and an unidentified object of metallic density at the left side of his upper neck. A further cervical spine radiograph was arranged, which revealed a foreign body of metallic density crossing over the C2–C4 level on the left side of his neck (Fig. ) that indicated a loosened K-wire. He recalled that he had suffered from a right clavicle fracture which was operated on for wire fixation approximately 15 years ago, but had lost follow-up since then. Palpation of his neck revealed no palpable foreign body. His oral cavity was clear, and findings on nasopharyngoscopy were also normal. A series of chest radiographs from 3 years ago showed that the wire had migrated from the right AC joint to the left side of his neck (Fig. ). Computed tomography angiography was performed to evaluate the position of the K-wire regarding the major vessels. The wire was removed by exploratory neck dissection under C-arm fluoroscopy assistance. The wire was found beneath the carotid sheath and removed by gentle traction along its axis (Fig. ). His postoperation recovery was uneventful, and he was discharged 4 days later.