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Ouch,
the Thought Even Hurts
An unfortunate man had a medical
history of chronic sinus infections. The infection
was spreading through his body.
He had sinus surgery which
included scraping away infected bone, etc. His
recovery was slow, but some improvement was noted,
and then he seemed to regress. An MRI (which was
very painful) revealed a small metal object in the
sinus cavity. The recovered metal object is shown in
Photograph A.
Photograph A
A second surgery was performed,
removing the metal object which was thought to have
been broken from some of the surgical instruments. A
thorough review of the instruments normally present
on the surgical tray failed to reveal any object
that could be responsible for the subject metal
object. The object appeared to be a nozzle or
diffuser that would difuse or disperse liquids. Some
of the instruments on the surgical tray are shown in
Photograph B.
Photograph B
The results of an examination in
the scanning electron microscope (SEM)
are shown in Photograph C.
Photograph C
A chemical analysis using energy
dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)
was performed. The EDS spectra is shown in below in
Figure 1.
Figure 1
The results of the EDS analysis
indicated that the object was probably an 18-8 (18%
Chromium and 8% Nickel) stainless steel.
A review of the surgeons orders
to the man indicated the he should use, rather
extensively, a Waterpik.
A review of Waterpiks presently
available indicated that all Waterpiks had rubber
tips. A typical Waterpik is shown in Photograph D.
Photograph D
It was determined that the metal
object was most likely a part of an older Waterpik. Upon presentation of test
results, the matter was resolved.
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Dr.
R. Craig Jerner, Ph.D., PE specializes in accident
investigation and metallurgical failure analysis,
with over 30 years experience as a metallurgical
consultant and accident investigator. He has
testified as a metallurgical expert in over 250
depositions and more than 70 court appearances. If you or someone you know should need the services of Dr. Jerner and J.E.I. Metallurgical, please visit our web site at the buttons below, or e-mail Dr. Jerner --- 