Woman's Breast Implant Saved Her Life by Deflecting a Bullet, Case Study Shows
In a remarkable study, researchers report what they are saying is that the first documented case in the medical literature of a silicone implant altering a bullet's trajectory and possibly saving a woman's life.
This horrific but ultimately non-fatal incident transpires in Ontario, Canada, and therefore the events of the evening are the topic of an ongoing investigation, with the shooter remaining unidentified, and therefore the firearm utilized in the episode never having been recovered.
What is certain, though, is that a 30-year-old woman with breast implants sustained severe chest trauma after being struck by a bullet publically at nighttime, with the projectile hitting her suddenly and abruptly.
"The patient-reported walking down [the] street and feeling heat and pain in her left chest, looking down and seeing blood," a probe team led by sawbones Giancarlo McEvenue explains in a very case note.
After being transferred to a trauma center, the lady was in a very stable condition, with no additional injuries aside from one entry wound within the upper part of her left breast.
Examination of the wound revealed thermal injury surrounding the hole on the left breast, suggesting close proximity to the discharging firearm, and a hard, bullet-like mass might be felt under the woman's skin on the opposite side of her body, lodged behind her right breast.
X-rays confirmed this mass was the bullet still inside the patient's body, within the right lateral thoracic wall, while also showing a fractured rib – clues to the bullet's trajectory through the body, the researchers say, entering the left breast and spending through to the proper thoracic wall, where it absolutely was eventually stopped.
CT scans revealed pulmonary contusion (damage to lung tissue) but no intrathoracic injury, although signs of debris and air indicated both breast implants had been struck by the bullet.
Bullet in right lateral thoracic wall on chest X-ray. (McEvenue et al., Plastic Surgery Case Studies, 2020)
The surgeons removed both damaged implants, and extracted the projectile, which was given to police, and identified as a copper-jacketed 0.40 caliber bullet.
After the successful operation, the woman's medical team used CT imaging in conjunction with the clinical evidence to reconstruct how the bullet tried and true the patient's body and her breast implants.
According to the researchers, the bullet was on track to pass directly through the chest wall and may need striking the woman's heart, had it not been for a deflection within the projectile's trajectory because of the presence of the left implant.
"Based on the trajectory of bullet entry clinically and evaluation radiologically, the sole source of bullet deflection of the bullet is that the left implant," the authors write.
"This implant overlies the center and intrathoracic cavity and so likely saved the women's life."
The researchers suggest deflection occurred within the implant likely at the purpose when the bullet pressed against and ultimately ruptured the implant's membrane.
While the hypothetical role of breast implants slowing down bullet velocity has been investigated before, the researchers say their patient's case is that the first showing multiple lines of evidence that suggest deflection can even occur.
"Our study adds to the current knowledge by using high-resolution CT technology to analyze bullet trajectory in an actual patient case," the authors write.
"This trajectory change could only are because of the bullet hitting the implant in our patient's case because the bullet didn't hit bone on the left side (as evidenced by lack of left-sided fracture and a bullet that retained enough energy to cause right-sided fractures)."
Although reported cases like this could be rare, the team found a minimum of two other cases in the medical literature where ruptured breast implants are thought to possess played a job in saving patients' lives after they were struck by bullets.
"The unfortunate story includes a happy ending in this the patient only suffered minor injuries and made a whole recovery," McEvenue says.
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