ISSN : 1301-5680
e-ISSN : 2149-8156
Turkish Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery     
Piece of wood on the back after occupational accident
Yener Aydın 1, Bayram Altuntaş 1, Hayri Oğul 2, Atilla Eroğlu1
1Departments of Thoracic Surgery, Medical Faculty of Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey
2Departments of Radiology, Medical Faculty of Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey
DOI : 10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2016.11552

A 38-year-old male patient presented with chest pain. A tree had fallen onto the patient. There were no neurological deficits. Preoperative anteroposterior radiography of the neck showed a radiolucent foreign body in the posterior paravertebral space (Figure 1a). Contrast-enhanced axial computed tomography scan showed a foreign body with air density in the posterior paravertebral space (Figure 1b). The patient underwent surgery under general anesthesia in the prone position (Figure 2a). Foreign body was removed with the appropriate surgical technique (Figure 2b). Thoracic surgeons may encounter interesting thoracic traumas. As in our case, patients may survive with minor complications despite severe trauma.[1,2]

Figure 1: (a) Posteroanterior cervical radiograph and (b) computed tomography appearance of foreign body.

Figure 2: (a) Appearance of patient in prone position and (b) foreign body.

Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.