Fishing spear head injury in a child

A 9‐year‐old boy with no relevant medical history was transferred to our hospital because of an impalement injury to his head by a four‐pronged spear for fishing. He was injured while falling with the spear in his hand on the beach. On arrival, the spear with small barbs was in the left side of the head with no active bleeding (Fig. 1A). His airway, breathing, and circulation were stable, and the Glasgow Coma Scale score was E4V5M6. The left superficial temporal artery was palpable. His facial motion and sensation were not affected. Furthermore, head X‐ray revealed that the spear did not reach the skull (Fig. 1B). With sedation and mechanical ventilation, we made an incision and extended the wound partially on the spear, which was positioned subcutaneously, at the emergency department. The spear was carefully extracted. The patient did not experience any complications, including surgical site infection, at the 1‐month follow‐up after hospital discharge.

Figure 1.

Photograph (A) and X‐ray (B) of a 9‐year‐old boy with an impalement injury to his head by a four‐pronged fishing spear. On arrival at the emergency department, the spear was in the left side of the head with no active bleeding.

Impalement injuries are uncommon in children, and most cases occur while falling or due to falling objects.1 Regarding impalement injuries in spearfishing, there are a few reports of head injuries by fishing harpoons in children.2, 3

Disclosure

Approval of the research protocol: N/A.

Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from the boy’s parent.

Registry and the registration no. of the study/trial: N/A.

Animal studies: N/A.

Conflicts of interest: None.

Funding information

The authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.