Woman, 31, undergoes surgery to remove contraceptive implant from her lung
A woman had to have surgery to remove her contraceptive implant from her lung after it made it way there from her arm.
In a “very rare” incident, the 31-year-old from Portugal had gone to the hospital because of unusual bleeding from her vagina.
The implant is usually placed in her upper arm but it moved. When doctors felt for it, they couldn’t find it and this is prompted them to do a scan. The scan showed the implant in her chest, at the bottom of her left lung.
The extremely rare case was reported by doctors in the gynecological department of the hospital in Viana Do Castelo, just north of Porto.
In the doctors’ report – which was published in the journal BMJ Case Reports – they claimed the implant may have fallen out of place and into the woman’s arteries and veins.
It said: “Risk factors for [implant] migration are placement technique – if introduced deeply migration can occur into the venous system and then to the pulmonary arterial system.
And the practice of vigorous physical exercise after correct placement, which seems to increase the risk of vascular migration.
Doctors believe the implant could have been placed too deeply into the woman’s arm, causing it to enter her bloodstream and travel through her body.
Surgery to remove the implant was successful and the woman-who remains unnamed-was said to have recovered quickly.
