Penetrating chest trauma: radiological appearances.

A 46-year-old man stabbed himself with a knife. While he was stable, frontal and lateral chest radiographs were obtained (Fig. 1). Following a cardiac arrest, emergency sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass were performed. The acute margins of the heart and diaphragm were lacerated. The knife passed 5 mm posteromedial to the inferior vena cava (Fig. 2). Recovery was uneventful. Figure 1: Frontal and lateral chest radiographs taken in the resuscitation room. Figure 2: Intraoperative photograph after the emergency sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass.