Cranial impalement injuries are rare. They occur from a variety of objects, and via different mechanisms. We describe the case of a 5-year old boy who suffered cranial impalement injury via a unique mechanism. He presented to our centre with an impacted 17.8cm long metallic rod (a fence spike) in the vertex of his cranium, just off the midline. The spike penetrated his head and broke off its supporting frame as the frame was falling off a collapsing brick fence. He was transported as soon as possible to the hospital by relatives, without any attempt to remove the impaled spike. An urgent cranial computerized tomogram was done, and the object was removed under general anaesthesia in the operating theatre. The patient had complete recovery and was subsequently discharged from the hospital, with no residual neurological deficit. This case demonstrates a rare mechanism of cranial impalement. It also highlights the importance of following basic principles in the management of such injuries.
| Published in | Journal of Surgery (Volume 4, Issue 2) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.js.20160402.16 |
| Page(s) | 31-34 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Penetrating Head Injury, Foreign Object, Metallic Rod, Brick Wall, Cranio-facial
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APA Style
Jimoh Abdullahi Onimisi, Guga Dung Apollos, Mathew Mesi, Danjuma Sale. (2016). Cranial Impalement of a Falling Fence Spike in a Child: A Case Report. Journal of Surgery, 4(2), 31-34. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20160402.16
ACS Style
Jimoh Abdullahi Onimisi; Guga Dung Apollos; Mathew Mesi; Danjuma Sale. Cranial Impalement of a Falling Fence Spike in a Child: A Case Report. J. Surg. 2016, 4(2), 31-34. doi: 10.11648/j.js.20160402.16
AMA Style
Jimoh Abdullahi Onimisi, Guga Dung Apollos, Mathew Mesi, Danjuma Sale. Cranial Impalement of a Falling Fence Spike in a Child: A Case Report. J Surg. 2016;4(2):31-34. doi: 10.11648/j.js.20160402.16
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Download@article{10.11648/j.js.20160402.16,
author = {Jimoh Abdullahi Onimisi and Guga Dung Apollos and Mathew Mesi and Danjuma Sale},
title = {Cranial Impalement of a Falling Fence Spike in a Child: A Case Report},
journal = {Journal of Surgery},
volume = {4},
number = {2},
pages = {31-34},
doi = {10.11648/j.js.20160402.16},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20160402.16},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.js.20160402.16},
abstract = {Cranial impalement injuries are rare. They occur from a variety of objects, and via different mechanisms. We describe the case of a 5-year old boy who suffered cranial impalement injury via a unique mechanism. He presented to our centre with an impacted 17.8cm long metallic rod (a fence spike) in the vertex of his cranium, just off the midline. The spike penetrated his head and broke off its supporting frame as the frame was falling off a collapsing brick fence. He was transported as soon as possible to the hospital by relatives, without any attempt to remove the impaled spike. An urgent cranial computerized tomogram was done, and the object was removed under general anaesthesia in the operating theatre. The patient had complete recovery and was subsequently discharged from the hospital, with no residual neurological deficit. This case demonstrates a rare mechanism of cranial impalement. It also highlights the importance of following basic principles in the management of such injuries.},
year = {2016}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Cranial Impalement of a Falling Fence Spike in a Child: A Case Report AU - Jimoh Abdullahi Onimisi AU - Guga Dung Apollos AU - Mathew Mesi AU - Danjuma Sale Y1 - 2016/05/06 PY - 2016 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20160402.16 DO - 10.11648/j.js.20160402.16 T2 - Journal of Surgery JF - Journal of Surgery JO - Journal of Surgery SP - 31 EP - 34 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-0930 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20160402.16 AB - Cranial impalement injuries are rare. They occur from a variety of objects, and via different mechanisms. We describe the case of a 5-year old boy who suffered cranial impalement injury via a unique mechanism. He presented to our centre with an impacted 17.8cm long metallic rod (a fence spike) in the vertex of his cranium, just off the midline. The spike penetrated his head and broke off its supporting frame as the frame was falling off a collapsing brick fence. He was transported as soon as possible to the hospital by relatives, without any attempt to remove the impaled spike. An urgent cranial computerized tomogram was done, and the object was removed under general anaesthesia in the operating theatre. The patient had complete recovery and was subsequently discharged from the hospital, with no residual neurological deficit. This case demonstrates a rare mechanism of cranial impalement. It also highlights the importance of following basic principles in the management of such injuries. VL - 4 IS - 2 ER -
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