Penetrating Nail-Gun Injury of the Left Ventricle and Thoracic Descending Aorta

Abstract

A 68-year-old man was brought to our emergency department because of an accidental nail-gun injury to the chest. Chest computed tomography in the hybrid emergency room revealed a 9 cm length of nail that had penetrated the anterior chest wall, left ventricle, and descending aorta, and was lodged in the 11th thoracic vertebral body. Immediate surgical repair was performed under left anterolateral thoracotomy using partial cardiopulmonary bypass, and closure of the penetrating site in the left ventricle and aorta was successfully conpleted. He had no major complications postoperatively.