FOREIGN BODY OF EMBOLIC ORIGIN IN RIGHT VENTRICLE OF HEART REMOVED WITH SUCCESSFUL RESULT

A FOREIGN body brought to the heart through the major vessels is a rare condition, encountered, as a rule, only under wartime conditions, when multiple small foreign bodies have opportunity to penetrate the human body. It would be impossible to estimate the number of foreign bodies which have penetrated large venous channels and, at the same time, closed over this wound of entrance. Later, if the foreign body is unattached at the point of entrance, the missile is transported through the vena cavae into the right auricle and through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. It is because of this rare condition that this case is presented. Harkins demonstrated in the last war the feasibility of the removal of these foreign bodies and the dangers encountered in leaving them in situ. Since that time, there have been many intracardiac procedures evolved for various acquired and congenital anomalies to make