Citation

Sharif S, Roberts G, Phillips J. Br. J. Neurosurg. 2000; 14(2): 159-160.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/02688690050004660

PMID

10889896

Abstract

We report a case of a 44-year-old man with 1 day's history of epistaxis. He was an in-patient in a psychiatric ward with a history of depression. He had CSF rhinorrhoea, was confused and had no focal neurological deficits. A full length pencil was removed from his left nostril in the emergency department. CT of the brain revealed a tract, but also suggested another foreign body in the inter-hemispheric space. He had a para-sagittal craniotomy and a 14 cm ball-point pen was found lying between the two cerebral hemispheres. This was removed and the patient made an uneventful recovery. This is the first report of an attempted suicide by transnasal insertion of a ballpoint pen intracranially.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Adult; Male; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; *Suicide, Attempted; *Brain; Cerebrospinal Fluid Rhinorrhea/diagnostic imaging/etiology/surgery; Epistaxis/diagnostic imaging/etiology/surgery; Foreign Bodies/*complications/diagnostic imaging/surgery; Head Injuries, Penetrating/diagnostic imaging/*etiology/surgery