Migration of schrapnel from lung to bronchus

Erosion of metallic foreign bodies from the pulmonary parenchyma into a bronchus is rare. In this case, bronchoscopic removal of the shrapnel was possible 64 years after the injury. The 89-year-old veteran enjoys life and has had no further pulmonary problems one year after bronchoscopic removal of a metallic foreign body. Possibly this is the oldest patient on record to have had a foreign body erode into a bronchus and to have undergone removal through a rigid bronchoscope.