Radiolucent wooden foreign body masquerading as a depressed skull fracture.
The following case describes a head injury in an older male patient in which a large wooden foreign body, forming a subcutaneous tract in the scalp, was mistaken for a depressed skull fracture on initial clinical assessment. This foreign body was not visualised on CT brain imaging until specialised views were used retrospectively, after surgical exploration of the scalp laceration. Appropriate radiological techniques for the detection of radiolucent foreign bodies are discussed.
Surgery Department, Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar, Mayo, Ireland.
Komal
K
Tasneem
Elizabeth Sarah
ES
Concannon
Adel
A
Abulkhir
Ronan S
RS
Ryan
Kevin
K
Barry
D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D022125:Lacerations / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D012535:Scalp / Q000293:injuries*; D020204:Skull Fracture, Depressed / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed