Intrathoracic metallic foreign bodies.

There is an extensive literature dealing with the immediate problems, both diagnostic and therapeutic, of penetrating injuries of the thorax, taut only a rather sparse amount of information on the late behaviour and appearance of intrathoracic metallic foreign bodies.'-'' In view of the large number of persons who have survived in the recent world conflict with such bodies still retained, it may be timely to review the roentgen findings in a fairly large group of cases, and to consider the detailed data concerning a small number of them. Surgical textbooks devote very little space to the general subject of pulmonary metallic foreign bodies, or else approach it almost exclusively from the aspect of aspirated objects. For example, in Christopher's well-known book appears the statement, "Retained foreign bodies introduced from without should be removed, because otherwise they give rise to rapidly spreading infection and result in lung abscess, gangrene, empyema and suppurative mediastinitis." Since no mention is made as to whether the author is referring to aspirated or penetrated foreign bodies, the reader may reasonably assume that he means both. In Lewis' Practice of Surgery (1944) there is an extensive amount of data on aspirated foreign bodies in the thorax, but very little on the subject of penetrating objects.