Wooden foreign bodies in the hand.

Despite the technical advances in radiological imaging modalities that have occurred in recent years in detecting foreign bodies like wood and plastics, they are not very often relied upon. Five of the six cases reported below seen over a period of 6 months, had a delayed presentation and ultrasound was found to be very useful in detecting and planning the treatment. The author strongly recommends high resolution ultrasound studies (7.5 MHz. linear array transducers) in the surgeon’s armamentarium for the detection of retained wooden foreign bodies. CASE REPORTS The following six cases presented to the Emergency Department of Memorial Hospital, Hastings between Dec 1995 and May 1996. All patients underwent real-time, high resolution ultrasound studies (7.5 MHz, linear array transducers) to rule out the presence of a wooden foreign body in their hands.