Silicone Implant Saved A Woman's Heart From A Bullet

Silicone implant saved a woman's heart from a bullet

A bullet that would otherwise have reached the heart was stuck in the chest wall. Scientists note that this is not the first time a breast implant has been life-saving.

Photo: SAGE

A silicone breast implant saved a woman's life, according to Canadian doctors in Plastic Surgery Case Studies. He was able to stop a bullet that would otherwise have struck the heart.

The described case occurred in 2018 in Toronto. A woman walking down the street suddenly felt "heat and pain in the left side of the chest." She saw a bleeding wound on her chest and made her way to the nearest hospital on her own. Finding a gunshot wound just above the nipple, the doctors transferred her to a specialized clinic.

The examination showed that the bullet was stuck in the chest wall behind the mammary gland, it broke a rib. But the woman's condition was good. Surgeons removed her breast implants. They found that the left one had been pierced through by a bullet and changed its trajectory.

Doctors point out that, apparently, the left breast implant saved the woman's heart from the bullet. Plastic surgeon Giancarlo McEvenue said in a comment to Gizmodo that the patient recovered quickly from wound treatment and a course of antibiotics.

McIwenue and colleagues reported that they found four more cases in the scientific literature of bullets hitting breast implants. In two of these cases, they appear to have saved the lives of women. But the case described by the Canadians turned out to be special: previously, scientists did not describe the change in the trajectory of a bullet in a breast implant.