A 3 year old boy presented to our accident and emergency department with an obvious penetrating head injury. He had tripped and fallen onto a metal model of the Eiffel Tower which then became rigidly lodged into his skull.
On arrival he had a Glasgow coma score of 15 and was neurologically intact. He was then anesthetised for a computed tomography scan which showed the tip of the metallic model penetrating the skull and lying 11 mm into the brain parenchyma.
He was transferred directly to the neurosurgical theatre for a craniotomy to remove the foreign body and debridement of the wound. Following this procedure he was successfully extubated and made a good recovery on the paediatric intensive care unit.
The following day he was discharged to the ward with regular antibiotics and prophylactic phenytoin.
This case report highlights the dangers to children from seemingly innocuous objects and toys.1
Footnotes
Competing interests: none declared
References
- 1.Couper G W, Boddie D E, Eljamel M S.et al Unguarded electric plugs cause penetrating head injuries in children. J Accid Emerg Med 20001755. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]