Rostrum saves the brain but not the patient

The 80-year-old male multimorbid patient was admitted to our emergency room. He attempted suicide by firing a small caliber handgun through his soft palate in the direction of the neurocranium. The patient was intubated due to heavy enoral bleeding. The craniofacial CT scan revealed a radiodense, metallic foreign body with a diameter of about 8 mm – matching the gun caliber – lodged into the rostrum sphenoidale (Figure 1 and 2). No intracranial injury was detected. Thus, we decided on endoscopic, endonasal removal of the bullet. The operation was performed under general anesthesia using four-hand technique. After opening the natural pathway of the sinus sphenoidalis, pieces of the bullet’s jacket were removed, lost bone tissue was replaced with wax, and a bioabsorbable sponge was used to alleviate bleeding. Despite the lack of surgical complications, unfortunately, our patient died 4 days post-operationcaused by multiple organ failure caused by his primary diseases.

Poster-PDF A-1535.pdf

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
13. Mai 2021