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Crossbow Bolt Injury To The Heart, Deanne Jacobs, Claire Hardman, Syed A. Zaman, Akpofure Peter Ekeh

Department of Surgery Faculty Publications

Case summary A 33-year-old woman was transferred from an outside hospital with a penetrating injury to her right chest. The patient was shot with a crossbow with the entry site to the right breast/chest and a transmediastinal trajectory. She was intubated prior to arrival due to difficulty breathing. Her vital signs remained stable and within normal limits, with good breath sounds, and no evidence of pneumothorax on chest X-ray. The tip of the bolt was palpable at the patient’s left midaxillary line. Chest X-ray in trauma bay showed the transmediastinal trajectory, and the bolt appeared to have a field point …