Wire ‘missing’: a rare presentation of preoperative localization wire system dislocation

A full account is presented of a 53-year-old Chinese woman with a small subpleura nodule in the right upper lobe, which was successfully localized by a Dualok-wire system under computed tomography guidance preoperatively. However, during operation, the hook wire was ‘missing’, neither in the thorax, nor in the lung. With the help of bed-side chest film, the missing wire, which was twisted in the patient's chest wall, was localized and removed through another small incision. Posterior segmentectomy was administered, and the pulmonary lesion was pathologically diagnosed as atypical alveolar hyperplasia. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13019-014-0162-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.