Frontal Wound Research Articles

Case Report: Multidisciplinary management of severe blast-related craniofacial and ocular injuries at artisanal gold mining sites in Niger: An unusual case report and comprehensive literature review

Blast-related craniofacial and ocular injuries have traditionally been associated with battlefields. In civilian populations, these injuries were infrequent, primarily arising from accidental explosions or terrorism incidents. Explosions can inflict severe damage to the neurological, ocular, and auditory systems through blast waves, high-velocity foreign bodies, and thermal radiation. The pathophysiology of blast-related craniofacial injuries is specific and complex, with severe cases often involving both penetrating and blunt trauma, leading to high mortality and morbidity rates. These injuries necessitate multidisciplinary management and can be defined as intracranial polytrauma. Recently, Niger has seen a surge in blast injuries, predominantly due to the increase in clandestine artisanal gold mining. Managing these injuries in resource-limited settings poses significant challenge. Comprehensive national data on these injuries are sparse due to high pre-hospital mortality rates and their infrequent occurrence, resulting in limited experience among our local physicians in their management. We present a rare case involving an artisanal gold miner with a history of smoking and previous concussions from explosion exposures. The patient was transferred to our hospital following severe craniofacial and ocular injuries caused by an accidental dynamite explosion at a mining site. On admission, the patient presented altered consciousness, agitation, unstable vital signs, multiple craniofacial wounds, including a large frontal wound with brain substance extrusion, diffuse facial burns, left globe rupture, and rhinorrhagia. After resuscitation and stabilization, brain imaging revealed multiple complex craniofacial fractures with foreign bodies. The patient underwent multidisciplinary surgical management. However, the postoperative course was complicated by post-concussive syndrome, and infection of the surgical wounds, necessitating surgical revision. Following the second surgery, the postoperative course was uneventful, although the patient experienced reduced visual acuity. This case highlights the management challenges in Niger and underscores the urgent need for clinical studies and training for gold miners to enhance safety practices in their activities.

How I do it: single-staged emergency neurosurgical management of frontal penetrating craniocerebral injury with depressed skull fracture.

Penetrating craniocerebral injury associated with depressed skull fracture is an infrequent yet timely neurosurgical emergency. Such injury frequently occurs in the frontal region during traffic accident or stone throw in the civilian setting. As military neurosurgeons, we present our experience in the surgical debridement and reconstruction of this peculiar type of traumatic brain injury. The patient lies supine, the head in neutral position heal by a Mayfield head clamp. The first step is the debridement of the frontal wound. Then, the depressed skull fracture is operated on using a tailored coronal approach through Merkel dissection plane, in order to keep a free pericranial flap. The bone flap is cut around the depressed skull fracture. Neuronavigation allows to locate the frontal sinus depending on whether it has been breached and thus requires cranialization. Brain and dura mater debridement and plasty are performed. Cranioplasty is performed using either native bone fragments fixed with bone plates or tailored titanium plate if they are too damaged. Performing wounded skin closure first and then a tailored coronal approach with free pericranial flap and a craniotomy encompassing the depressed skull fracture allows to treat frontal penetrating craniocerebral injury in an easy-to-reproduce manner.

Somnambulisme avec mise en danger vital (syndrome d’Elpénor) chez un enfant

This 10-year-old girl was admitted at night to our hospital after a 3-m fall at home. She was alert (Glasgow score, 15) at admission; a frontal wound and a deformation of the right wrist were noted. Brain CT scans showed a frontal skull fracture and frontal lobe contusion, wrist x-rays showed a displaced right fracture. The patient underwent urgent neurosurgery (wound excision and suture after reduction of skull fracture) and closed reduction and immobilization of the wrist fracture, both under general anesthesia. She underwent a psychiatric assessment in the intensive care unit 3days after her fall. She was alert, well-oriented in time and space, and spoke fluently. She had no memory of her fall, only remembering going to bed in the evening before the accident and waking up in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. She displayed no sign of a concurrent mental illness and no suicidal ideas. Her parents reported that the evening of the accident she and her two brothers had all fallen asleep about 11:00pm while watching TV, in the double bed of the guest room, placed just beside its window. At approximately 1:00am, her father, who was going to bed and had just made noise in the hall, heard a cry from the guest room. He entered the room immediately and saw the opened window and his daughter lying on the outside ground; the brothers only awakened after the fall. The family had returned 2days before from a 6-month stay in the United States, with jet-lag, sleep deprivation, and a disorganized sleep/wake rhythm in the patient. There was no medication before the accident, no substance use (including caffeine), and no concurrent medical problem. Over the 2preceding years, the patient had undergone two witnessed episodes of early-nighttime arousal with altered consciousness and calm wandering (including going downstairs on one occasion), both strongly suggesting sleepwalking. There was a history of sleepwalking in her father and her older brother. Life-threatening sleepwalking (Elpenor syndrome) was diagnosed. The child and her parents were educated about sleepwalking; regularization of sleep schedules and sleep extension (avoidance of sleep deprivation, short napping when possible) were prescribed. We also recommended securing the home (bed, windows, and stairways). No pharmacological treatment was instituted. During the following 18months, the child manifested only one noted sleepwalking episode, without risk-taking. She had no neurological or psychopathological sequela from her accident, of which she never had a memory. Elpenor syndrome can occur in a child; consequently, it is important to inform parents of children with sleepwalking about the necessity of always securing the night-time environment.

Delayed Diagnosis of Intracerebral Foreign Body From the Vietnam War

We report on a 22-year-old infantryman who sustained a right frontal wound to his head. He was treated and returned to duty immediately. During a computed tomography scan, 38 years after the incident, a metallic foreign body and disruption of the brain consistent with a projectile track were discovered in his brain. In this report, we review similar cases of delayed discovery of unsuspected foreign bodies and the probable nature of the wound.

Modified Technique for Frontal Sinus Obliteration Using Calvarial Bone and Tisseel Glue

Frontal sinus obliteration is indicated in trauma and frontal sinus disease. We present our experience with a modified technique of frontal sinus obliteration. We reviewed the records of 17 patients who underwent frontal sinus obliteration with a combination of Tisseel fibrin glue (Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Deerfield, IL) and calvarial bone and describe our technique. One female and 16 male patients (mean age, 36.6) underwent frontal sinus obliteration from 2001 to 2005. Traumatic fracture was the most common indication. The patients were followed up for a median of 15 months. There were no major complications. Postoperatively, one patient developed a localized frontal wound infection at 3 weeks; this resolved with debridement. At latest follow-up, all were free from local sinus complications, disease recurrence, headaches, or intracranial events. The combined use of autogenous calvarial bone and Tisseel is suitable for frontal sinus obliteration. Our technique is associated with low donor site morbidity, avoids a separate donor surgical site, and has a low complication rate.

Osteoplastia frontal: nuestra experiencia

ObjectiveDespite the advances of endoscopic surgical techniques, the frontal sinus obliteration via the osteoplastic flap (OPF) remains the treatment option for frontal sinus pathologies. The aim of this study is to evaluate indications, procedures and results of this technique. Material and methodsRetrospective study of thirty one patients that underwent OPF procedure between 1986 and 1999. ResultsThe average patient’s age was 42 years. The treated pathologies were: 12 mucoceles, 8 fractures, 4 osteomas, 4 sinutisis, 1 frontal abscess, 1 frontal osteomielitis and 1 orbital celullitis. The main clinical symptom’s were headache (32%) and nasal obstruction (29%). The surgical approaches es used were: brow incision in 24 patients (78%), bicoronal in 5 (16%) and through the frontal wound in 2 traumatic cases (6%). Endonasal surgical procedures were associated in 8 patients (25%). Frontal sinus obliteration was performed in 23 patients (74%). Surgical revision was necessary in two cases. The were no serious complications. The overall esthetic and functional outcome was good. ConclusionsOPF with fat obliteration is an useful technique in patients who had frontal sinus disease refractary to other methods.