3D Printed Inhaled Foreign Body - Trachea

3D Printed Inhaled Foreign Body - Trachea Clinical HistoryA 57-year old male presented with a 3-week history of cough and pleuritic left sided chest pain. Chest x-ray showed left upper lobe collapse with large left sided pleural effusion. Pleurodesis aspirated frank pus from the pleural cavity. He later died despite pleural drainage and antibiotic treatment. Pathology This specimen shows the lower trachea and main bronchi. These have been cut open and the left upper lobe has been sliced to display the cut surface. At the point of origin of the left upper lobe bronchus there is an impacted foreign body; an inhaled rabbit vertebra! As a result of the obstruction, the upper lobe has collapsed, pneumonia has developed and the pleural surface is covered by fibrinous exudate. This is an inhaled foreign body with associated collapse and pneumonic consolidation of the left upper lobe and empyema. Further InformationInhalation of a foreign body or foreign body aspiration