TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Subcutaneous Foreign Body Identification and Removal A1 - Murray, David A1 - Chun, Laura A1 - Amin, Dhara Patel A2 - Reichman, Eric F. PY - 2018 T2 - Reichman's Emergency Medicine Procedures, 3e AB - Wounds with a retained foreign body (FB) are a frequent presenting complaint to Emergency Departments. It is important to identify and remove debris and FBs to promote optimal healing. The presence of a FB may not be obvious. Up to 38% of embedded objects are missed on the initial assessment and many of these are frequently missed because imaging was not performed at that time.1The presence of an unrecognized FB can lead to infection, joint injury, loss of function, osteomyelitis, pain, tendon rupture, tenosynovitis, and vascular injury.2-7 Chronic FBs may lead to the formation of pyogenic granulomas.8 Certain soft tissue FBs have the capacity to migrate great distances months to years after the original injury, leading to increased morbidity and mortality from what originally was a benign FB.9Assess patients presenting with chronic, recurrent, or delayed skin infections for the presence of an unrecognized FB. Failure to diagnose and treat a FB is a common cause of litigation against Emergency Physicians.A high index of suspicion and careful methodical examination, including appropriate imaging, must be undertaken to identify a FB. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/10/11 UR - accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1159803014 ER -