60-year-old injection needle found from elderly woman’s hip

An 84-year-old woman in Daejeon, identified by her last name Yeo, had to undergo a "hip surgery” at Kunyang University Hospital on Tuesday last week.

On her visit to the hospital due to severe pain in her hip last December, she learned of a broken injection needle in her right hip through an X-ray. The piece of injection needle found in her body measured as much as 2.5 centimeters. Prof. Kim Gwang-gyun who conducted the surgery said, “Surgery was challenging because the needle piece was at a location full of nerves and blood vessels.

Why a piece from needle was found in the old lady’s hip? The woman singled out her husband as “culprit.” “She said, "Sixty years ago when my husband was serving as medic at the military, he injected on my hip while I was sick. I remember him saying that a small piece of the needle may have been cut at the time. But I forgot about that because I did not have pain. I never thought that a needle piece would remain in my hip.”

Professor Kim said, “As the needle moved downward, it might have reached a section of the hip that touches the chair when sitting and caused pain.”