Snapshot!

Carpenter's backache

This gentleman presented to the emergency department for the second time in two months complaining of backache. The obvious foreign body was considered by the treating resident to be an "in the pocket" artifact and was thus discarded as an irrelevant finding. When I pointed out that it was actually a 10cm nail, located in the soft tissue above the right sacroiliac joint, the case was reviewed, but neither the patient nor his records could proffer any logical explanation (the patient's theory was that it must have been in his milk). As the patient had no signs or symptoms of sepsis or a pelvic abscess, it had probably been in that position for some time. The moral of the story? Sometimes it really is the x-ray findings that nail the case!

Barnabus Bako
Radiology Registrar
The New Children's Hospital, Westmead, NSW

©MJA 1998
Make a comment

Readers may print a single copy for personal use. No further reproduction or distribution of the articles should proceed without the permission of the publisher. For permission, contact the Australasian Medical Publishing Company.
Journalists are welcome to write news stories based on what they read here, but should acknowledge their source as "an article published on the Internet by The Medical Journal of Australia <http://www.mja.com.au>".
<URL: http://www.mja.com.au/> © 1998 Medical Journal of Australia.
We appreciate your comments.