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A woman's life was saved from a gunshot wound, thanks to her breast implants
A 30-year-old woman's life was saved from a close-range gunshot wound to the chest, and doctors believe she survived it all thanks to her breast implants.
According to a case study published on SAGE Medical Journal last week, the patient was walking down the street and suddenly felt heat and pain in her left chest, when she looked down she saw blood and brought herself to an emergency department.
The study said the clinical examination revealed "a comfortable patient in no distress with a single entry wound in the superior pole of the left breast."
In an interview with CNN, surgeon Giancarlo McEvenue said that the emergency department's trauma team couldn't believe that the patient was feeling fine when she arrived.
McEvenue said the entry of the bullet was on the left breast but the rib fracture was on the right side.
"The bullet entered the skin on the left side first, and then ricocheted across her sternum into the right breast and broke her rib on the right side," McEvenue explained to CNN.
The surgeon said the implant caused the change in the trajectory of the bullet.
"On the left hand side is the heart and lungs — if the bullet would have gone into the chest, she would have had a much more serious, possibly life-threatening injury," McEvenue added.
In the CNN report, doctors noted that the silicone implant is responsible for deflecting the bullet's trajectory, which saved the woman's life.
In all, the she only suffered a gunshot wound, broken ribs and broken implants.
According to the SAGE Medical Journal study, the patient was evaluated and cleared by the emergency department's trauma service.
The study said the implants were removed to treat the gunshot wound and they suggested for it not to be replaced until "all potential infection has resolved."
McEvenue told CNN that the incident took place in Toronto, Canada where it was only one of a few instances recorded in medical literature and the first recorded incident where a silicone implant saved a patient's life. — LA, GMA News
