Citation

Assoumane II, Agada NK, Maman Sani R, Kélani A. Case Rep. Neurol. Med. 2023; 2023: e9921985.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Hindawi Publishing)

DOI

10.1155/2023/9921985

PMID

38025302

PMCID

PMC10676273

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A penetrating head injury (PHI) refers to a situation where a projectile has breached the cranium but does not exit it. It constitutes about 0.4% of all head injuries. Several nonmissile materials inserting the skull have been reported. But to our knowledge, never before has any case of PHI caused by a hit of rake been reported. We report a first case of PHI caused by a rake in a child; then, we relate our experience with its management and discuss the relevant literature.

Cases Description. A 5-year-old boy has been admitted with a rake embedded in his head. That occurred during a violent play with a neighbor. At presentation, the child was alert; there was no neurological deficit. The rake was embedded in the parietal regions on each side of the midline. The head Computed Tomography (CT) scan performed showed a biparietal hyperdensity from either side of the midline with a metal artifact. In the operating room, after a transversal incision joining the 2 tips of the object, we performed successively bone flaps; object extraction; debridement; duraplasty; and closing. The outcome was uneventful.

CONCLUSION: This is the first case of PHI by a rake. The surgical management constitutes the main challenging point.

Language: en