Penetrating thoracic trauma due to an exploded battery

Ayşen Taslak Şengül, Ahmet Başoğlu, Tamer Kutlu, Cem Diren Öztürk

Department of Thoracic Surgery, Medicine Faculty of Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun

Penetrating thoracic trauma (PTT) rarely occurs indoors. We report a case of PTT which occurred as a result of the explosion of a lithium battery, which is commonly used in daily life. A 47-year-old male patient was admitted to our Emergency Service Department after a rechargeable lithium battery exploded in his hand as soon as he had taken it out of the charging apparatus. A foreign body was observed in the anterior chest wall and minimal bilateral pneumothorax was documented on computed tomography,. The foreign body was removed under local anesthesia and conservative therapy was applied. Our case, though rare, pointed out the possibility of the development of a lifethreatening PTT due to the explosion of a battery.

Keywords : Penetrating thoracic trauma; lithium battery; explosion

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