Migration of a piece of shrapnel: femoral vein to superior vena cava--azygous junction

Abstract

We report a case of a shrapnel injury to the right thigh in which a foreign body had lodged in, and moved freely from, the femoral vein to the inferior vena cava and right atrium. However, instead of going into the right ventricle and pulmonary artery, it lodged itself in the superior vena cava-azygous junction. During the entire period, the patient remained asymptomatic and the foreign body was surgically retrieved uneventfully.