Back to Journals » International Journal of General Medicine » Volume 5

Good clinical practice in dubious head trauma – the problem of retained intracranial foreign bodies

Authors Fischer B, Yasin, Holling, Hesselmann

Received 13 July 2012

Accepted for publication 21 September 2012

Published 19 October 2012 Volume 2012:5 Pages 899—902

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/IJGM.S35925

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 4



Bernhard R Fischer,1 Yousef Yasin,2 Markus Holling,2 Volker Hesselmann3

1Department of Neurotraumatology, BG-University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; 2Department of Neurosurgery, 3Institute for Clinical Radiology, University Hospital of Muenster, Muenster, Germany

Objective: In young people, traumatic head and brain injuries are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. In some cases, no neurological deficits are present, even after penetrating trauma. These patients have a greater risk of suffering from secondary injuries due to secondary infections, brain edema, and hematomas. We present a case report which illustrates that brain injuries that do not induce neurological deficits can still result in a fatal clinical course and death, with medicolegal consequences.
Clinical presentation: A 19-year-old patient was admitted to hospital suffering from a head injury due to an assault. He reported that he was attacked from behind. Medical examination showed no neurological deficits, and only a small occipital wound. Neuroimaging of the cranium revealed that a knife blade was penetrating the cranial bone and touching the superior sagittal sinus.
Intervention: After removing the foreign body, magnetic resonance imaging showed that the superior sagittal sinus remained open.
Conclusion: We want to stress that possible problems can arise due to the retention of objects in the cranium, while also highlighting the risk of superficial clinical examination.

Keywords: head trauma, guidelines, retained object, neuroimaging

Creative Commons License © 2012 The Author(s). This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.