Registry Tracks Effects

Week of October 13, 2008

The Defense Department's Embedded Metal Fragments Registry is helping officials gather data to be sure the long-accepted practice of leaving embedded metal fragments in wounded warriors' bodies as long as vital organs are not threatened is valid. To date, the registry deals only with wounded servicemembers from Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. To date, the registry has looked at 400 to 500 fragments to determine their makeup. Those who have had fragments removed and sent to the registry but still live with unrecoverable fragments will become part of a database. This information will be shared with the Veterans Affairs health care system because the intention of the registry is to follow the veterans for the rest of their lives. For more information, visit the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology's Registry on Embedded Metal Fragments.