Thoracoscopic removal of an intrathoracic Kirschner wire. Case report

We report the clinical case of a clinical case of a 50-year-old woman who had a very rare complication related to the insertion of Kirschner wires for fixation of a left humerus fracture. Sixteen years after the placement of the Kirschner wires, a routine chest X-ray revealed that one of the Kirschner wires had migrated through the pleural cavity. Chest computed tomographic scans confirmed the presence of a metallic wire inside the left lung parenchyma, adjacent to the superior pulmonary artery. This particular case was managed through a video-assisted thoracoscopic approach, and the wire was easily removed from the pleural cavity, thereby avoiding the need of a thoracotomy.