CASE REPORT   Open access

Italian Journal of Emergency Medicine 2020 December;9(3):149-51

DOI: 10.23736/S2532-1285.20.00051-8

Copyright © 2020 THE AUTHORS

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

lingua: Inglese

Dentist’s drill tip extraction from the bronchial tree: a very unusual experience in bronchoscopic activity

Domenico LOIZZI ¹, Michele PIAZZOLLA ¹ ✉, Paola CAPORALETTI ², Roberto DE BELLIS ¹, Francesca CIALDELLA ¹, Nicoletta P. ARDÒ ¹, Francesco SOLLITTO ¹

¹ Department of Thoracic Surgery, Ospedali Riuniti University Hospital, Foggia, Italy; ² Department of Acceptance and Emergency Medicine and Surgery, Ospedali Riuniti University Hospital, Foggia, Italy

A 75-year-old man was referred to our department from the emergency department due to suspicious aspiration of a foreign body during dental implantology. The CT scan enlighted the presence of a dentist’s drill tip in the right bronchial tree. The patient underwent rigid bronchoscopy for the removal of the foreign body on the same day. After the procedure, no complications were observed and the patient was discharged the following day.

KEY WORDS: Foreign bodies; Foreign object; Thoracic Surgery; Bronchoscopy; Surgical procedures, operative