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(Circulation. 1999;100:1361.)
© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.

Images in Cardiovascular Medicine

A Bullet in the Heart

Néstor Wainsztein, MD; Branco Mautner, MD

From the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, Favaloro Foundation, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Correspondence to Néstor Wainsztein, MD, FCCP, Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, Favaloro Foundation, Belgrano 1746, 1093 Buenos Aires, Argentina.

	Introduction

 
A bullet located in the interventricular septum is shown in frontal (A) and right lateral (B) chest radiography and in an echocardiogram (C; RA indicates right atrium; RV, right ventricle; LA, left atrium; and LV, left ventricle. Superior white arrow, labeled BULLET, shows the bullet located at the interventricular septum). It is from a 37-year-old policeman who was shot while on duty. The bullet entered the right hemithorax, rupturing the right free ventricular wall and ending in the interventricular septum. A right thoracotomy was performed, a hemopericardium drained, and the right ventricle repaired. The bullet was not removed. Images were made during the patient's recovery.

View larger version (71K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1.

	Acknowledgments

 
We are grateful to Eduardo Guevara, MD, for performing the echocardiographic study.

	Footnotes

 
The editor of Images in Cardiovascular Medicine is Hugh A. McAllister, Jr, MD, Chief, Department of Pathology, St Luke's Episcopal Hospital and Texas Heart Institute, and Clinical Professor of Pathology, University of Texas Medical School and Baylor College of Medicine.

Circulation encourages readers to submit cardiovascular images to Dr Hugh A. McAllister, Jr, St Luke's Episcopal Hospital and Texas Heart Institute, 6720 Bertner Ave, MC1-267, Houston, TX 77030.

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