An Interesting Case of Penetrating Brain Injury by a Self-Hammered Nail

Abstract

Penetrating brain injuries by nails are rare. These usually have been reported as work-related accidents such as from falls or nail gun misfires and in cases of assault. The authors present a case of a 38-year-old psychiatric patient who attempted suicide by self-impalement of nail in the vertex near the midline of the head. Surprisingly, he was asymptomatic after a brief loss of consciousness, and with a Glasgow Coma Scale of 15. There was no history of vomiting or seizures. Intraoperative and postoperative periods were uneventful. Many unusual intracranial foreign bodies have been reported in medical literature, but one of a self-inflicted intracranial injury by hammering a nail is rare. In this article, the authors describe their case report and discuss the challenges encountered in the management of a patient with intracranial injuries by nail, along with a brief review of literature.

Keywords

penetrating brain injury - traumatic brain injury - nail injury

^* Co-first authors.

• References

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