Penetration of the heart by needles and similar foreign bodies is extremely rare. In a review of the literature in 1899, Loison 1 observed that needles were found in the myocardium in twenty-three of 223 cases of wounds of the heart. In some of these cases the foreign body was well tolerated and did not cause any definite symptoms.
Meyer-Pantin 2 in 1920 collected from the literature reports of twelve cases in which a needle entering the heart was the cause of death. In three of these cases the needle was lodged in the wall of the right ventricle; in two cases, in the wall of the left ventricle; in one case, in the interventricular septum extending into the right ventricle; in another, in the wall of the right auricle; in one instance, in the lumen of the right auricle, entering from the right bronchus, and in still another, in