CTICasesRetained Wooden Foreign Body ("Timber Thorax")
Imaging findings
A peripheral right hemithorax rounded opacity with dystrophic calcium near the pleural surface was found incidentally without a clear clinical history. The resected specimen was a rounded encapsulated structure with fluid contents, and histology showed polarizable, structured plant/wood material. The history obtained only after resection revealed that 22 years earlier a tree branch pierced the patient's right chest while riding a dirt bike, with only partial surgical removal of the fragment at that time.
Key takeaways
A calcified, pleural-based rounded opacity with no clear acute history should prompt consideration of a chronic retained foreign body, since fragments such as wood can remain clinically silent for decades before being incidentally discovered; a retained wood fragment can incite a chronic, partly fluid-filled, granulomatous foreign-body reaction ("timber" or "ligneous" thorax) that mimics a solid pleural-based tumor such as a solitary fibrous tumor on imaging alone.
AI-assisted summary — may contain errors. Verify against the source video. Learn more
More from this webinar
- Tipped-Up Right Middle Lobe (Chronic Cicatrization Atelectasis)Artifact
- Naltrexone (Vivitrol)-Induced Acute Eosinophilic PneumoniaILD
- Occupational Metal Dust LymphadenopathyExposure
- Aluminosis with Dense LymphadenopathyExposure
- Pulmonary Mucormycosis ("Bird's Nest" Sign) in Neutropenic LeukemiaInfection
- Chronic BerylliosisExposure
- Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (GPA)Autoimmune
- Endovascular Small Cell Lung Cancer Mimicking an Infectious/Inflammatory NoduleNeoplastic
See all cases from June 28, 2018 →
Related Trauma cases
- Blunt Traumatic Aortic Injury with Multifocal Thoracic and Abdominal Involvement
- Incarcerated Traumatic Diaphragmatic Hernia from a Remote Stab Wound
- Delayed Presentation of Traumatic Diaphragmatic Hernia (Dependent Viscera Sign)
- Fat Embolism Syndrome after Long-Bone Trauma
- Traumatic Gastric Herniation and Rupture into the Pericardium
- Large Traumatic Diaphragmatic Rupture with Dependent Viscera Sign