Missiles in the Heart

Abstract

THIS report concerns the fate of 40 soldiers with foreign bodies in the heart from World War II. The original study began in a small way in North Africa and Italy during the war. At that time an opportunity was presented to assemble data on 100 soldiers who had wounds of the heart and recovered; among them was a small group who were sent home from overseas with metallic fragments in the myocardium.§ In 1957, at the suggestion of the National Research Council, this earlier study was extended to include the total experience of the war, and this is now . . .