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Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors
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Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors
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Forums » Off duty » News & media » Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

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Forums  »  Off duty  »  News & media  »  Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 20/6/2012 3:32 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 311
First: 7/5/2009
Last: 2/4/2013
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-shot-fishing-spear-06092012,0,6300667.story?track=rss

Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 20/6/2012 5:12 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 1280
First: 9/12/2011
Last: 14/5/2013
I can imagine it would pose significant challenges.   DuaneF

Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 20/6/2012 6:55 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 2034
First: 12/3/2010
Last: 17/5/2013
A teeny, weeny three foot fishing spear?
With a shaft about half an inch thick? 
Oh, what a loser, what a spectacular fail!

When we have Mr.Phineas Gage:


With his three and half foot long, one and quarter inch thick, tamping iron (it looks bigger), that was shot through his skull when he screwed up the blasting process while building the
Rutland & Burlington Railroad in Virginia, in 1848.  It went right through and landed 25 meters away.    And he lived.
That is a dilemma for doctors!

See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage#Gage.27s_accident

John

Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 20/6/2012 7:38 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 311
First: 7/5/2009
Last: 2/4/2013
In Response to Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors:
A teeny, weeny three foot fishing spear? With a shaft about half an inch thick?  Oh, what a loser, what a spectacular fail! When we have Mr.Phineas Gage: With his three and half foot long, one and quarter inch thick, tamping iron (it looks bigger), that was shot through his skull when he screwed up the blasting process while building the Rutland & Burlington Railroad  in Virginia, in 1848.  It went right through and landed 25 meters away.    And he lived. That is a dilemma for doctors! See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage#Gage.27s_accident John
Posted by John D


And he was managed around 200 years back without any sophisticated gadgets and monitoing devices of today.

 luck was stronger than Medical science in his case

Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 20/6/2012 10:08 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 3031
First: 27/3/2012
Last: 11/5/2013
Great! It looks unbelievable & really poses a significant dilemma for doctors.

With the help of power tools and industrial-grade vise grips, Miami doctors have successfully removed a 3-foot spear that pierced a teenager’s skull during a fishing accident. And Tuesday, 16-year-old Yasser Lopez left the intensive care unit.

“It could be a complete recovery,” said Dr. Ross  Bullock, a neurosurgeon at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Hospital. “That is so rare.”

Lopez survived what should have been a fatal accident for two reasons, doctors said. First, the spear missed all the brain’s vital structures. Additionally, puncturing the skull took so much energy that by the time the spear reached brain tissue, it was moving relatively slowly, resulting in less tearing and bleeding.

Lopez's X-Ray

As Yasser Lopez played in a Miami lake, a friend accidentally fired a spear gun while trying to load it, a Miami-Dade Police Department report said.

Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 21/6/2012 1:16 AM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 2947
First: 10/3/2009
Last: 29/4/2013
Is this a variant on ice-pick headache?

I managed a man in ICU once who was transfixed by a plank of 3 x 2 inch timber he was feeding into a saw at a saw mill.. It entered the right chest near his shoulder, went under his aortic arch and came our his left shoulder. He is still my patient.  The plank was ten feet long which presented problems for the ambulance. His name was Max so I called him Max Plank. He did well. 

Why did he survive? Over to you.

Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 21/6/2012 11:22 AM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 2034
First: 12/3/2010
Last: 17/5/2013
drrathore,
Just re-read my contribution above, and realised that you might easily have taken offence at 'loser' and 'fail'!  I'm grateful that you didn't!
John

Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 21/6/2012 11:41 AM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 2034
First: 12/3/2010
Last: 17/5/2013
drrathore,
Re-reading my contribution above makes me realise that you could easily have taken offence at "fail" and "loser".  I'm grateful that you didn't!

FRom Mr.Gage to young Lopez, there seem to be many reports of similar transfixion accidentsinvolving head, neck or torso, with amazing lack of permanent injury.   Searching online is complicated by a 'popular music group' that calls itself 'Transfixion' (nice!) so 'impalement' is a better search word, and there are many:
http://www.amjoto.com/article/S0196-0709(01)35867-2/abstract
http://www.blameitonthevoices.com/2009/03/six-year-old-indian-boy-impaled-on.html
http://funkydowntown.com/bullfighting-accident-bull-horn-impaled-bullfighter-matador-julio-aparicio-throat-mouth-injure-scary-photos/
http://www.trauma.org/index.php/main/image/754/impalement,%20skull%20fracture,%20emergency%20department,%20neurotrauma,%20haematoma%20subdural,%20head%20injury,cranial%20ct%20scan
http://www.news.com.au/world/woman-impaled-by-tree-branch-in-car/story-e6frfkyi-1225776529493
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/770250-driver-impaled-on-metal-rod-in-truck-accident

Though survival is not always the case:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073810001829

The routes and instruments are so varied, and there has to be a survival bias on publication, but just how dangerous is this type if injury?

John

Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 23/6/2012 7:33 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 312
First: 2/6/2012
Last: 10/5/2013
it may be.

Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors

posted at 23/6/2012 7:37 PM BST on bmj.com
Posts: 311
First: 7/5/2009
Last: 2/4/2013
In Response to Re: Teen with 3-foot fishing spear in skull poses dilemma for doctors:
drrathore , Just re-read my contribution above, and realised that you might easily have taken offence at 'loser' and 'fail'!  I'm grateful that you didn't! John
Posted by John D

Come on John. Why would i be offended by a colleagues comment.

I look forward to reading more of your comments on my posts

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