Good morning all
One of our orthopaedic surgeons has written regarding a patient who sustained shrapnel injuries in an IRA bomb blast 20 years ago. The shrapnel is around the right shoulder and close to the cervical spine. She now needs an MR scan of the cervical spine. This would be ruled out if the shrapnel were ferrous material. He plans to biopsy the shrapnel and has asked for my assistance.
Questions:
1. There are plenty of colleagues who could assay tissue iron, but is this appropriate?
2. Given that shrapnel could be of various materials, demonstrating that a given sample isn't iron surely doesn't rule out the presence of iron in other shrapnel within the
patient.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
Lance
Dr Lance N Sandle
Consultant Chemical Pathologist/Deputy Medical Director
Trafford General Hospital
Moorside Road
Davyhulme
Manchester M41 5SL
(T) 0161 746 2473
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