Percutaneous interventional forceps removal of radiopaque foreign bodies in soft-tissue under fluoroscopic guidance

Objective: To evaluate the clinical value and limitations of percutaneous interventional forceps retrieval technique under fluoroscopic guidance in removing radiopaque foreign bodies in soft-tissue. Methods: A total of 4 105 consecutive soft-tissue injury patients with radiopaque foreign bodies, encountered in authors' hospital during the period from June 2005 to June 2010, were involved in this study. The diagnosis was confirmed by plain X-ray films in all patients. Additional CT scanning was performed in 1 591 patients, in some of them 3D reconstruction was adopted. With local anesthesia percutaneous interventional forceps retrieval of radiopaque foreign bodies (PIRFB) was carried out under C-arm video-fluoroscopic guidance. Results: Of all patients in this study, 61.34% (2 518/4 105) was treated by PIRFB (study group), and 38.66% (1 587/4 105) was not treated with PIRFB (control group). In study group,the complete and partial curative rate was 95.07% (2 394/2 518) and 4.81% (121/2 518) respectively, and the failure rate was 0.12% (3/2 518). Of 1 587 patients in control group, 25.02% (n=397) left hospital by patient's own reasons and 74.98% (n=1190) was discharged from hospital due to medical or technical reasons. In control group,the foreign objects were close to big vessels in 65.22% (1 035/1 587), large local hematoma was accompanied in 2.90% (46/1 587), associated traumatic pseudoaneurysm was seen in 1.32% (21/1 587) and the foreign objects were glass pieces and the like were found in 5.55% (88/1 587). No serious postoperative complications that required specific therapy, such as bleeding, infection and nerve damage, etc. occurred. CT, especially enhanced CT three-dimensional images, could precisely display the vasculatures nearby the foreign body, which helped make the correct judgment of the removal ability and the operation risk for foreign bodies with interventional procedure. Conclusion: Percutaneous interventional forceps retrieval technique under fluoroscopic guidance is an effective and micro-invasive method for the removal of radiopaque foreign bodies within soft-tissue. But the technique is contraindicated when the foreign body is close to a big vessel or when a traumatic pseudoaneurysm is accompanied. In complicated cases, preoperative enhanced CT scanning with three-dimensional reconstructed images are essentially required. In this study the concept of vascular and non-vascular foreign body removal under real time X-ray fluoroscopic guidance, i.e. dual interventional techniques, is first proposed by the authors. (authors)