title: Penetrating injury of the upper cervical spine by a chopstick--case report.
abstract: A 35-year-old man presented with penetrating spinal injury after attempting suicide by stabbing a wooden chopstick into his mouth. The object penetrated the pharynx, and the tip entered the spinal canal of the atlantoaxial vertebrae. Emergent surgery disclosed that the tip of the chopstick had penetrated between the dural sac and the vertebral artery. There was no dural tear or vertebral artery injury. The foreign body was removed successfully from the oral side. He recovered without neurological sequelae.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Japan. satjp02@yahoo.co.jp
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Kuniki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Toshikazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hidaka
authors.forename: Prabin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurisu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D003297:Cooking and Eating Utensils; D005547:Foreign Bodies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010614:Pharynx / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery; D012652:Self Mutilation; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000601:surgery*