Chinese man found with sewing needle in heart after hospital visit

Doctors in China discovered a 36mm sewing needle embedded in the heart of a 35-year-old man after he went to hospital complaining of pain and blood during urination.

Despite the severity of the case, his vital signs were normal and he showed no cardiac symptoms.

Medical examinations revealed several metallic objects in different parts of his body, including the abdominal wall, pelvis, bladder wall and cavity, as well as the hip bone, muscle, and penis.

The most dangerous was a needle that had pierced the membrane surrounding the heart, with its tip reaching the left ventricle.

Doctors decided to surgically remove the needle from the heart to prevent possible rupture, bleeding, or serious infection. During the operation, surgeons also found other needles that had penetrated the bladder wall, covered in stone-like deposits.

The medical team chose to remove the heart needle first, with plans to extract the bladder needles later.

The patient recovered after treatment, but doctors could not determine how the needles entered his body.

Doctors at Hunan Provincial People's Hospital said the patient and his family did not clarify the source of the metallic objects, suggesting they may have been inserted deliberately. A review of his medical history showed he had two similar objects removed from his abdomen two years earlier.

A scientific review published in 2024 noted that only 34 cases of needles inserted into the heart as a form of self-harm have been recorded since 1967, and such objects can remain in the heart for long periods without obvious symptoms.