Asymptomatic intracardiac migration of a Kirschner wire from the right rib

Abstract

We report the case of a 50-year old man diagnosed with intracardiac migration of a Kirschner wire (K-wire). The patient had undergone surgical fixation of rib fracture 32 months previously. Chest roentgenograms, chest computed tomographic scans and echocardiography revealed that one of the K-wires had migrated to the right ventricle. The K-wire was removed immediately. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported instance of asymptomatic intracardiac migration of a K-wire from the right rib. © The Author 2013.