Unusual craniocerebral injury caused by a pneumatic nail gun.
A man was found unconscious near a ladder in a house. After resuscitation he was brought to a hospital and X-rays of the skull showed that two 12-cm long nails had completely penetrated the cranial cavity. The nails were operatively removed and after treatment for 5 weeks, the patient was transferred to a rehabilitation centre with a decreasing hemiparesis on the left side and general deterioration and then, after an attempted suicide to a psychiatric hospital. The perforating cranio-cerebral injury from a pneumatic nail gun known to reach only low muzzle velocities is a very unusual finding.
Bock
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Department of Legal Medicine, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Universitätsstrasse 22, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. Horst.Bock@recht.med.uni-erlangen.de
Neu
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M
Betz
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Seidl
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D000062:Accidents, Occupational; D000328:Adult; D003252:Construction Materials; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D020197:Head Injuries, Penetrating / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011859:Radiography; D013406:Suicide, Attempted