[An operated case of traumatic intrapulmonary foreign body persisting for 45 years]

A case with a bronchial foreign body which had an uncommon way of entry through a wound in the chest wall was described. A 70-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of productive cough and weight loss. He had been injured by a fragment of a hand grenade which penetrated his anterior chest wall at the front in China 45 years ago. A chest x-ray film revealed a metallic foreign body, measuring 1.3 by 0.9 cm, in the upper lobe of the right lung. Computed tomography of the chest and bronchoscopy demonstrated a steel fragment lodging beside and in the right upper lobe bronchus. Right upper lobectomy was performed, and the patient remains well without any thoracic symptoms one and a half years after the operation. Problems in the treatment of traumatic intrapulmonary foreign bodies were discussed.