A rare, combined cardiac and hepatic crossbow injury

Abstract

A 32-year-old man presented to our hospital after a failed suicide attempt using a crossbow. The patient had shot himself in close range with a double-barreled crossbow, simultaneously two arrows, in the chest. In spite of his life-threatening injuries, the man survived. The lodged arrows helped to avoid tremendous loss of blood. After his arrival in the hospital, the surgical removal of the arrows proceeded under direct visualization with corresponding sutures on the heart and liver. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful.