NEEDLE ENTERS CHEST

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1933, Page 10

NEEDLE ENTERS CHEST

CHILD’S GRAVE INJURY STEEL BURIED NEAR HEART. SUCCESSFUL SURGICAL FEAT. / • Pahiatua, February 3. A and dangerous operation, performed this afternoon at the Pahiatua Public. Hospital, has resulted in the successful extraction of a darning needle which had penetrated close to the heart of a two-year-old child, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.' Ronald D. Wylie, of Marima. The needle had been buried in the child’s chest for a week before it was located. . Early Friday afternoon the little girl, Pauline, was playing in the dining room of Mr. Wylie’s farmhoilse, about 11 miles from Pahiatua, when she picked up a pin, which her mother hastily endeavoured to take from Her. The child anticipated the move and threw the pin away.. Then she ran into the kitchen. A "few minutes ’later there was a scream of pain, and Mrs. Wylie,,.hastening into the kitchen, rpet the child tearfully hurrying for the solace of her. mother’s arms. • For a moment the mother was mystified as to the cause of her daughter’s pain.--Then she noticed, protruding from "the front of the infant’s frock,, portion of a three-inch darning _ needle. The needle had been broken in two and a spot of blood indicated the place where over an inch of steel was embedded in the child’s chest, with no :part visible. It appears that Pauline climbed on to the back of an armchair in the kitchen and plucked the needle from a pin-cush-ion hanging’fully sft 6in. high on the wall. Evidently the child toppled off the chair and, with the needle clenched in her little fist, crashed on to the floor, driving the steel deep into her body. The point entered the chest about an inch below the heart

The instant realised her daughter’s plight, Mrs. Wylie summoned her husband, who was discing in a paddock .not far away. . He drove the sufferer at once to Pahiatua; where Dr. H. Paterson ordered ah X-ray That night the child was sallowed to go home, but as she was: still rather ill, was brought in again early-the next morning. An operation was then performed by the medical- superintendent, Dr. H. T. Dawson, and Dr. Paterson. The chest wall was laid bare and the top . of the ribs was. searched, but no trace of the needle could be found. It had evidently passed under the ribs in proximity to the heart. ‘ The infant had first been X-rayed on the back, but following the operation’s disappointing outcome, a second X-ray examination was made, this time with the sufferer lying on her side. The result was the accurate location of the buried needle. 1 It was lying directly under the ribs near the sternum, or breastbone, inclining inward, the point being only one-eighth of an inch from the heart ’

With this disquietening knowledge at his command, Dr. Dawson did not hesitate to operate again. In the execution of a very delicate surgical feat, a piece of rib had to be cut away before the needle was at last extracted.