TY  - JOUR
T1  - Lead Toxicity Associated with a Gunshot-Induced Femoral FractureA Case Report
AU  - Dougherty, Paul J.
AU  - van Holsbeeck, Marnix
AU  - Mayer, Theodore G.
AU  - Garcia, A. Joseph
AU  - Najibi, Soheil
Y1  - 2009/08/01
N1  - 10.2106/JBJS.H.01077
JO  - The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
SP  - 2002
EP  - 2008
VL  - 91
IS  - 8
N2  - 
Lead toxicity due to a bullet or bullet fragment is a rare complication of gunshot wounds1-17. Surgeons who manage patients with these injuries are aware of lead toxicity in association with lead arthropathy4,11,18-26, but cases that involve lead toxicity due to extra-articular lead fragments in the extremities are unusual. The presence of bullet fragments in tissue can increase the serum concentration of lead to above average, but not to the levels seen in patients with lead toxicity15,16,27. Cysts associated with a gunshot wound to bone28,29, the joints19,30-32, or the spine8,33 have been described. We describe the case of a patient with lead toxicity due to an extra-articular cyst associated with retained lead fragments after a gunshot-induced fracture of the femoral shaft. The cyst encasing the bullet fragments developed by twenty-one months after the injury. The patient was informed that data concerning the case would be submitted for publication and he consented.

SN  - 0021-9355
M3  - doi: 10.2106/JBJS.H.01077
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.H.01077
ER  -