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Can A Broken Needle In Vein Flow To Heart And Lung?

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Posted on Fri, 13 Jun 2014
Question: After reading the article for the broken needle in vein. I got the curious and phobia for the something getting into my vein from wound or pierce.
For example, If I got cut from sharp one or pierced by thorn, I guess that thorn piercethe skin and the wall or vein and some broken part flow to the lung and heart.
What I confused is that Some doctor say that broken partilce in vein could flow to the heart. But the other say that it is impossible to flow to far distance to heart .
Pls. explain me that why it is impossible and why it is difficult to flow to lung. (vein diameter is too small?)
doctor
Answered by Dr. Ashish Verma (52 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
it will not cause any harm of clinical importance

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thanks for writing to HealthcareMagic.

Even if a piece of thorn or needle managed to reach inside the vein, it is very rare for it to reach the heart, as there are multiple valves and bends in the vein where it may get stuck.

But even if it manages to reach the heart and gets pumped to the lungs, then it will get trapped in the capillaries of the lung and will get filtered there as those capillaries are just one cell thick and allows only one cell thick structures to pass through it, bigger structures will get trapped in it leading to its blockage.

But you need not worry about it. Just like there are millions of hair on the head and loss of one hair won't make any difference. Similar will be the case of one blocked capillary in the lung.

So, you can conclude that there will be no harm, except for the infection that will come inside along with it, but an otherwise healthy body is capable enough to fight such small infections.

Hope i have been helpful.

Regards,
Dr. Ashish Verma
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj
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Answered by
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Dr. Ashish Verma

General Surgeon

Practicing since :2008

Answered : 1290 Questions

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Can A Broken Needle In Vein Flow To Heart And Lung?

Brief Answer: it will not cause any harm of clinical importance Detailed Answer: Hi, Thanks for writing to HealthcareMagic. Even if a piece of thorn or needle managed to reach inside the vein, it is very rare for it to reach the heart, as there are multiple valves and bends in the vein where it may get stuck. But even if it manages to reach the heart and gets pumped to the lungs, then it will get trapped in the capillaries of the lung and will get filtered there as those capillaries are just one cell thick and allows only one cell thick structures to pass through it, bigger structures will get trapped in it leading to its blockage. But you need not worry about it. Just like there are millions of hair on the head and loss of one hair won't make any difference. Similar will be the case of one blocked capillary in the lung. So, you can conclude that there will be no harm, except for the infection that will come inside along with it, but an otherwise healthy body is capable enough to fight such small infections. Hope i have been helpful. Regards, Dr. Ashish Verma