TY - JOUR T1 - Trans-sternal cardiac injury caused by a hooked needle JF - Emergency Medicine Journal JO - Emerg Med J SP - 751 LP - 753 DO - 10.1136/emj.2004.014779 VL - 22 IS - 10 AU - H Yanar AU - M Aksoy AU - K Taviloglu AU - E S Unal AU - M Kurtoglu AU - K Nisli Y1 - 2005/10/01 UR - http://emj.bmj.com/content/22/10/751.abstract N2 - 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. ER -