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Unusual attempted suicide by shooting through heart.

Kadis P, Pogorevc L, Sipek M, Vidovic D

General Hospital Slovenj Gradec, Surgical Department, Gosposvetska 3, SI-2380 Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia. peter.kadis@siol.net

Gunshot wounds in the heart are frequent suicidal injuries, especially in men. Most of them are lethal, but some cases of survival due to immediate and proper surgical treatment are reported. However, survival without specific treatment is extremely rare. In our case, a 44-year man attempted suicide by home-made shooting device. A special 12 cm long and 2.5 mm wide needle-like missile entered his body at the left anterior part of his chest, passed through the heart and lower lobe of right lung and exited at the right side of his back. The patient was able to move normally and he also looked for medical help immediately after attempting suicide. We found large atypical-shaped entrance wound on the anterior part of the chest, which was surgically treated, and tiny pointed exit wound under the right scapula. The patient was stable from cardio-circulatory and respiratory aspects from the time of admission to discharge from the hospital. We found only minimal pericardial bleeding (up to 10 mm thick) and there was no need for surgical intervention. In the next 2 weeks the haematoma absorbed spontaneously. The gunshot injury healed without any complication. Paranoid psychosis was diagnosed by psychiatrist and this probably had been the cause of attempting suicide. We think that the favorable outcome of the proved heart gunshot injury in our patient was due to the needle-shaped low-energy missile, which caused only tiny gunshot (stab) hole in the heart. Such a heart injury caused only minimal bleeding into the pericardial sac without heart tamponade.

Published 7 February 2005 in Forensic Sci Int, 147: S29-32.
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