Case report demonstrates lead toxicity and joint pain from migrated intra-articular shotgun pellets in a young woman, highlighting the therapeutic efficacy of arthroscopic removal.
CASE: We describe a case of mild lead poisoning in a 25-year-old woman because of intra-articular migration of lead shot 12 years after gunshot injury to the left hip, ameliorated by arthroscopic foreign body removal. Retained lead can cause systemic symptoms of lead toxicity, supranormal blood lead concentration, and increasingly painful and destructive local arthritis even years after gunshot injury. CONCLUSION: This report shows that lead fragments should be monitored closely if located near joint spaces. We demonstrate curative therapy for lead poisoning through the use of minimally invasive arthroscopic techniques for removal of retained intra-articular lead missiles.
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Hanson et al. (2021) studied this question.
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