CAREER NETWORK World's one of the largest Research Career Network Benefits Academic & Industry jobs Project funding Visiting faculty positions Visiting scientist positions Invited talks and more... Register FREE Global Journal of Surgery. Volume 2, Issue 4 (2011) pp. 183-184 Research Article An unusual mechanism of pulmonary embolisation of the metal tip of a spinal rod Thai Vu, Margaret Gilfillan, Christos Alexiou Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Nottingham City Hospital, Nottingham ,NG5 1PB, UK Abstract We report the case of a young female, whilst undergoing spinal surgery for scoliosis had a complication of a projectile metal tip cut from the spinal rod prosthesis embolising via the the hepatic vein to the inferior vena cava (IVC), the right side of the heart and then to the pulmonary artery. She underwent a median sternotomy and normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass and the foreign body was removed following pulmonary arteriotomy. Keywords Pulmonary embolisation; Harrington spinal rod