Abdominal radiograph unknown 9

Anshuman Bansal

JHU SOM

abansal1@jhmi.edu

David Marker

JHU SOM

dmarker@jhmi.edu


Publication Date: 2009-09-11

Findings

Look carefully at this x-ray image of the abdomen. There is a foreign body visible in the image.

  1. Can you tell what this foreign body is?

    Bullet fragments in the abdomen

    Incorrect. The object is symmetrical making it unlikely to be bullet fragments. Try again.
    Inferior vena cava filter

    Correct. This patient had recurrent pulmonary emboli while they were on anticoagulant medication. This filter was placed in the IVC to trap emboli coming from the lower extremity to the lungs.
    Spinal fixation hardware

    Incorrect. This does not have the shape of common hardware used to fix the spinal column.
    Swallowed metal in the GI tract

    Incorrect. This is a good guess, however, this device has the classical shape of another medical device.