Long-term effects of pulmonary shrapnel injury. Report of a case with carcinoma and residual shrapnel tract.

Bullets and shrapnel fragments may occasionally lead to intrathoracic complications many years after their initial penetration. We report a case of pulmonary carcinoma arising in relation to pleural scarring from a shrapnel wound received 38 years earlier. An incidental finding was a patent, epithelialized tract running from the upper lobe pleural scar deep into the lower lobe, interpreted as a residue of the shrapnel's path through the lung.