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Sewing Needles Threatening Pneumothorax: An Unusual Case of Foreign Body insertion in Axilla

Kritika Tiwari,, Garima Chawla, Mukesh Kumar

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New Indian Journal of Surgery 16(2):p 79-82, April - June 2025. | DOI: 10.21088/nijs.0976.4747.16225.7

How Cite This Article:

Tiwari K, Chawla G, Kumar M. Sewing Needles Threatening Pneumothorax: An Unusual Case of Foreign Body insertion in Axilla. New Indian J Surg. 2025;16(2):79-82.

Timeline

Received : May 28, 2025         Accepted : June 29, 2025          Published : June 30, 2025

Abstract

Background: This is an unusual case of a young Indian girl who inserted multiple sewing needles, allegedly to clean her axillary sinus tract, which then went on to become life-threatening for her, and required a formal exploration under general anesthesia. Case: We report a case of self-insertion of 3 sewing needles in the right axilla for cleaning a sinus tract which migrated till the intercostal muscles threatening a pneumothorax, and discuss management of the case. Conclusion: A skillful history, appropriate imaging and early surgical intervention are a must to correctly diagnose and adequately treat retained foreign bodies in breast or axilla, thereby preventing life-threatening complications.


References

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Data Sharing Statement

There are no additional data available. All raw data and code are available upon request.

Funding

This research received no funding.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed significantly to the work and approve its publication.

Ethics Declaration

This article does not involve any human or animal subjects, and therefore does not require ethics approval.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the patients, their families, and all those who have contributed to this study.

Conflicts of Interest

No conflicts of interest in this work.


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Cite this article

Tiwari K, Chawla G, Kumar M. Sewing Needles Threatening Pneumothorax: An Unusual Case of Foreign Body insertion in Axilla. New Indian J Surg. 2025;16(2):79-82.


Licence:

Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.


Received Accepted Published
May 28, 2025 June 29, 2025 June 30, 2025

DOI: 10.21088/nijs.0976.4747.16225.7

Keywords

Foreign bodyNeedleAxillaBreastPneumothoraxLife-threatening

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Received May 28, 2025
Accepted June 29, 2025
Published June 30, 2025

licence


Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.


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