CASE REPORT Penetrating Injury to the Head: Case Reviews K Regunath, S Awang*, S B Siti, M R Premananda, W M Tan, R H Haron** *Department of Neurosciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, **Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital Kuala Lumpur the right frontal lobe to a depth of approximately 2.5cm. SUMMARY (Figure 1: A & B) There was no obvious intracranial Penetrating injury to the head is considered a form of severe haemorrhage along the track of injury. The patient was taken traumatic brain injury. Although uncommon, most to the operating theatre and was put under general neurosurgical centres would have experienced treating anaesthesia. The nail was cut proximal to the entry wound patients with such an injury. Despite the presence of well and the piece of wood removed. The entry wound was found written guidelines for managing these cases, surgical to be contaminated with hair and debris. The nail was also treatment requires an individualized approach tailored to rusty. A bicoronal skin incision was fashioned centred on the the situation at hand. We describe a collection of three cases entry wound. A bifrontal craniotomy was fashioned and the of non-missile penetrating head injury which were managed bone flap removed sparing a small island of bone around the in two main Neurosurgical centres within Malaysia and the nail (Figure 1: C&D). Bilateral “U” shaped dural incisions unique management approaches for each of these cases. were made with the base to the midline. The nail was found to have penetrated with dura about 0.5cm from the edge of KEY WORDS: Penetrating head injury, nail related injury, atypical penetrating the sagittal sinus. The nail was removed with gentle traction head injury and did not result in any overt haemorrhage. The tract was irrigated copiously with saline. The dura was subsequently closed in a water tight manner and the bone flap replaced. INTRODUCTION Penetrating head Injury occurs when a projectile breaches the The patient was well post operatively without any cranium and its contents. The circumstances leading to such neurological deficit. A repeated CT scan done on the 1st an injury are varied and may result from missile wounds, Post–operative day revealed no intracranial bleeding. A stab wounds, motor vehicle accidents or occupational course of parenteral antibiotics was continued for a one week accidents 1,2 . In this report we highlight three cases of period and subsequently converted to oral antibiotics for a penetrating head injury caused by a nail, a motorcycle kick further two weeks. The patient remained well and did not starter and a metal rod. Each patient was managed with reveal any evidence of infection. Her operative wounds slightly differing strategies to minimize further injury healed well. A contrast enhancing CT scan of her brain was occurring during removal of the projectile while keeping to repeated and revealed no evidence of infection over the the standard principles of good debridement and standard injury site. She was discharged well after completing parenteral antibiotics. antibiotics and was reviewed in the outpatient clinic 6 weeks after the injury. She was found to have made a good recovery with no evidence of complications. CASE 1 A 3 year old child was referred from a peripheral hospital CASE 2 after an alleged fall. She had landed on a piece of wood with A 21 year old male presented after an alleged motor-vehicle a nail protruding from its surface. The nail penetrated the accident. The patient was a motorcyclist who collided skull through the frontal region over the midline about 1cm head–on with another motorcycle. He was not wearing a behind the hair line. There was no history of loss of safety helmet at the time. He was admitted with a Glasgow consciousness following the injury and the child was coma Scale Score of 8/15 (E1 V2 M5) but was otherwise admitted to the emergency department with a Glasgow heamodynamically stable with no other major organ system Coma Scale Score of 15/15. She was haemodynamically injury. An obvious metal projectile was seen protruding out stable did not exhibit any features of raised intracranial from a penetrating injury in the right frontal region just pressure or focal neurological deficits. The exact penetration above the supraorbital ridge. site was obstructed from view due to the presence of the piece of wood to which the nail was attached overlying the site of He underwent CT scan of the brain which revealed a metal injury. The nail with its attached wood piece was found to be object penetrating the right frontal bone and anterior skull very mobile and was secured in place with a crepe bandage base to a depth of 5.75cm (Figure 2:A). A small contusion to the childs head pending transport and investigation. was seen along the injury tract which transgressed the inferior frontal lobe on the right. The patient was intubated Plain skull radiographs in the Antero Posterior and Lateral and underwent urgent debridement and surgical removal of planes revealed a single 6cm long radioopaque nail the metal object. During transfer, care was taken to ensure penetrating the childs skull. A computed tomographic scan that the protruding portion of the metal object was not was subsequently done and revealed the nail to be lodged in displaced. This article was accepted: 8 March 2012 Corresponding Author: Siti SuriayatiBuang, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan Malaysia Email: [email protected] 622 Med J Malaysia Vol 67 No 6 December 2012 Penetrating Injury to the Head: Case Reviews A: A Lateral CT Scanogram projection depicting the Fig. 2: projectile penetrating the anterior cranial fossa. B: Intraoperative image depicting the projectile within the frontal lobe and surrounding contusions. A: Anterior Posterior (AP) Skull X-rays projections shows Fig. 1: Skull radiographs showed a metal rod penetrating the the nail penetrating the child’s skull in the right frontal anterior cranial fossa in the region of the midline. CT scan region just adjacent to the midline. The nail was noted to revealed the tip of the rod to be lying ventro-superiorly to the be bent and penetrated the underlying brain at an angle. tuberculum sellae. B: Non contrasted Axial Computed Tomographic images shows the nail penetrating the frontal lobe of the brain The patient underwent a right pterional craniotomy. The on the right side approximately 1.5cm deep. C&D: The frontal and temporal lobe were retracted and the anterior Bifrontal Craniotomy that was fashioned sparing an island of bone around the nail entry site. Circle of Willis and the optic chiasm were exposed and inspected. The rod was noted to have not injured any neurovascular structure in the region. It was located just in A frontal craniotomy was fashioned on the right side. The front of the anterior communicating artery. The metal rod fractured fragments were removed and contusion and clot was dissected free and pulled out under direct visualization surrounding the metal object was evacuated while from below. The defect in the dura over the skull base was meticulously dissecting the metal object free from the covered with flap of fascia and sealed with tissue glue. Patient surrounding brain tissue (Figure 2:B).The metal object was made a good recovery post operatively and did not suffer then slowly pulled out from below without any oscillating from any complications. movements to prevent any further injury. The object was noted to be a motorcycle kick starter that had broken off. Associated clots were evacuated and the area was then DISCUSSION washed with copious amounts of saline. Dura was severely The consequence of a penetrating injury to the brain by a torn with significant loss predominantly in the frontobasal projectile is determined by a number of characteristics. The region. Due to difficulties with primary closure in this first factor to take into consideration is the velocity of the location a harvested fascia flap was used for Duraplasty. The projectile. Laws of physics dictates that the kinetic energy bone flap was then replaced. contained within a projectile is directly proportional with the velocity of the said item. The higher the velocity the greater The patient was weaned off ventilation post operatively. A the damage to the surrounding tissue by transfer of this post-operative CT scan showed complete removal of the kinetic energy to the target. This is exemplified by gunshot projectile and associated contusions. The patient was injuries. extubated well on the second post-operative day and made a good recovery with no complications excepting anosmia on The penetrating injuries described in this review were the (R) side. generally of low velocity. These types of injury do not cause concentric zones of cavitation and necrosis like that seen in high velocity penetrating injuries. Injury is predominantly CASE 3 A 4 year old child was admitted after having a fall in a restricted locally along the line of injury. shopping complex. He was running and slipped then fell on an exhibition rack. A metal rod from the rack penetrated his When a projectile penetrates the brain and its covering cheek and was found on admission protruding out through a layers, a communication is created between the intracranial tear in his right cheek. The child very much like the first case compartment with the external environment that was well and did not show any neurological symptoms or significantly increases the risk of leakage of cerebrospinal signs. fluid and infection. Intracranial abscess may occur up to Med J Malaysia Vol 67 No 6 December 2012 623 Case Report months after the injury. The incidence of infective In the second case, a motorcycle kick-starter had penetrated complications significantly increase if bone fragments are the skull base in the frontobasal region.