Location and localisation of metal in the tissues

Abstract

LITERATURE abounds in records which list every conceivable type of accident resulting in metallic objects entering the tissues of the body. So varied and so strange are the histories that many hundreds of single cases have been described; few are now unique. War casualties account for a numerically small group and statistics show that civil injuries far outnumber war wounds. Amongst those are accidents in industry, in the home, in sport and also during surgical investigations and treatment. There is a vast volume of evidence to show the movement of foreign bodies in the tissues and in the cardio-vascular system. This aspect of the subject has occupied the attention of many surgeons throughout the ages and its history has been reviewed by Sir Charles Ballance (192o). A great variety of objects have been described in the literature. The commonest has been needles; of all types. These include Loison (1899) sewing and hypodermic; Fair (1935) darning; Dreiling (1933) knitting, skewers and bodkins; Petersen (1929) pins and safety pins; Braul (1927) hairgrips; Lambert Rogers (1942) radium needles.