Broken Intraluminal Needle in an Intravenous Drug User - A Case Report and Review

Intravenous injections are an everyday practice in the health-care sector and are also frequently abused by drug abusers. One rare complication of intravenous injections is venous intraluminal breakage of the needle, which is a matter of concern due to the possible embolization of needle fragments in the body.

We report our case of an intravenous drug abuser with an intraluminal breakage of a needle presenting within 2 h of the incidence. The broken needle fragment was retrieved successfully at the local injection site.

Intraluminal intravenous needle breakage should be treated as an emergency, and a tourniquet should be applied as soon as possible.