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Published on: September 18, 2015
Neodymium magnet-assisted retrieval of metallic foreign bodies in the upper extremity: a descriptive surgical
Okyar Altas1, Kemal Zencirli2, Kagan Cevlik1
1Department of Hand Surgery, Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye.
Background:
Retained metallic foreign bodies (MFBs) of the upper extremity constitute a clinically consequential subset of penetrating soft tissue injuries. Conventional retrieval approaches may necessitate extensive tissue dissection, prolonged operative durations, and repeated intraoperative fluoroscopic imaging. Rare earth neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets represent a minimally invasive adjunctive instrument for the retrieval of ferromagnetic MFBs; however, procedurally granular, anatomically stratified data from dedicated hand surgery practices remain limited.
Methods:
A retrospective review of 15 consecutive patients who underwent neodymium magnet-assisted retrieval of upper extremity MFBs at a single institution between January 2022 and January 2024. N35-grade NdFeB disc magnets (10 × 1.5 mm; 1.17-1.20 Tesla) and a 36 mm fishing magnet were employed. Two operative techniques were applied: direct removal, in which the magnet attracts the MFB through a mini-incision; and vibration localization, in which magnet-induced fragment movement enables precise pre-extraction localization. Primary outcomes were procedural success, operative duration, and fluoroscopy utilization.
Results:
All 15 MFBs were successfully retrieved (100% procedural success). Mean operative duration was 3.13 ± 1.35 min overall; the hand cohort (n = 12) demonstrated a mean of 2.75 ± 1.14 min under local anesthesia. Mean fluoroscopy utilization was 0.88 images per case (total: 13 images). Twelve patients (80%) underwent superficial mini-incisions without deep dissection.
Conclusion:
In this preliminary descriptive series, neodymium magnet-assisted retrieval achieved 100% procedural success with low fluoroscopy utilization, brief operative durations, and uncomplicated short-term wound healing in all patients. These findings should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating given the limited sample size and support the feasibility-rather than the proven comparative superiority-of this approach within a dedicated hand surgery practice.
