PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - H Yanar
AU  - M Aksoy
AU  - K Taviloglu
AU  - E S Unal
AU  - M Kurtoglu
AU  - K Nisli
TI  - Trans-sternal cardiac injury caused by a hooked needle
AID  - 10.1136/emj.2004.014779
DP  - 2005 Oct 01
TA  - Emergency Medicine Journal
PG  - 751--753
VI  - 22
IP  - 10
4099  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/22/10/751.short
4100  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/22/10/751.full
SO  - Emerg Med J2005 Oct 01; 22
AB  - Cardiac injuries remain the most challenging of all injuries seen in the field of trauma surgery. Penetrating injury to the heart generally occurs less frequently than blunt injury and most commonly injures the large anterior right ventricle. We present an unusual, and to our knowledge a previously unreported, cause of cardiac penetrating trauma in a child, involving a hooked needle (a 15 cm long, metallic device usually used for crocheting or lacemaking). A ventricular septal defect was managed conservatively shortly after the primary cardiorrhaphy. Evaluation methods for this rare presentation and its possible surgical treatments are discussed.