Embolised needles causing injury to the right heart and cardiac tamponade has been reported before in intravenous drug users, but to our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a needle migrating via the pulmonary arterial system to cause perforation of the ventricle. Appropriate utilisation of imaging modalities such as plain X-ray and point-of-care focused cardiac ultrasound can be vital and life-saving in the emergency setting, and the value of gated multidetector CT as a powerful tool for imaging moving structures is highlighted.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF