Saving the life of a patient with iron fence cotton stuck in his skull

SGGPO June 19, 2023 11:40

The iron fence's cotton had penetrated the skull bone into the frontal brain parenchyma, the wound was about 4cm deep, located right at the forehead, putting the patient at a very high risk of death.

Saving the life of a patient with iron fence cotton stuck in his skull

On June 19, People's Hospital 115 announced that it had just received and performed emergency surgery on a case of a foreign object stuck firmly in the skull. This was an especially critical case but fortunately the patient was saved.

According to Master-Doctor Ngo Nguyen Quang, Deputy Head of the Department of Neurosurgery, People's Hospital 115, the patient was a man who was admitted to the hospital at dawn. When he was transferred to the General Emergency Department, the patient had a metal foreign object firmly embedded in his skull in the middle of his forehead. The patient's contact was slow, and his limbs were still able to move on their own. Immediately, the doctors urgently performed a CT scan of his brain.

The results of the imaging examination showed that the foreign object had penetrated the skull bone into the frontal brain parenchyma, the wound was about 4cm deep, located right at the frontal pole. This condition put the patient at a very high risk of death.

After a quick consultation, the emergency neurosurgery team decided to remove the foreign object in the operating room to proactively control the brain hemorrhage after removing the foreign object.

The patient was quickly taken to the operating room, after anesthesia, the doctors removed the foreign object. According to the records, the foreign object penetrated the brain tissue about 4cm deep, causing skull fracture, meningeal tear, and brain contusion.

The team of doctors opened the skull wide at the location around the foreign body injury (about 4cm in diameter) and sucked out the bone fragments and brain damage, while stopping the bleeding, patching the meninges, cleaning the wound, and suturing the skin. After 2 hours of urgent work in the operating room, the surgery was successful, helping the patient overcome the critical condition. After surgery, the patient is being actively resuscitated and closely monitored for vital signs.

Currently, the patient's health is gradually recovering. Dr. Ngo Nguyen Quang said that this is a rare case, the brain injury caused by a metal foreign object (iron fence) is 4-5 cm deep into the brain, if it is 1 cm deeper, it can damage the cerebral blood vessel polygon at the base of the skull, causing intracerebral hemorrhage.

In addition, foreign objects embedded deep in the skull can cause surgical site infections, meningitis or brain abscesses. The hospital continues to closely monitor the patient's condition in the post-operative days to avoid possible complications.

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