Pellets in body cause heart attack, stroke: DAK

Srinagar: With echoing voices against the use of pellet guns, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today said that pellets lodged in body have the potential to cause heart attack and stroke.
With hundreds of people peppered with pellets, President DAK Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan in a statement said that lodged in pellets are a constant risk for heart attack and stroke.
Pellets can penetrate the skin and land in heart or brain.
Located anywhere, these pellets can migrate along the artery or vein to a distant site.
They can migrate immediately within few days after someone gets shot, but patients can turn up months to decades later.
Intravascular migration of pellets has been reported in several studies and various case reports.
In a case report, middle aged male who had pellets lodged in torso suffered a massive heart attack as one of the pellets had migrated to heart.
In another case, 28 year old male who had sustained pellet injuries in left buttock demonstrated intravascular migration of one of the pellets to heart 7-10 years after he was shot.
Many cases of pellet migration or embolism to brain have been reported resulting in coma and death.
In a published paper, 9 year old boy with multiple pellets in chest developed stroke as one of the pellets had migrated to his brain.
Intravascular arterial embolization of pellets has been reported in the abdomen and extremity causing death and disability.
Pellets embedded in brain and spinal cord can be life-threatening as pellets have the potential to move.
Hundreds of people have been blinded and many have died because of pellets.
The retained pellets are toxic to humans and they can cause severe lead poisoning.

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