Skull fracture

Two plant operators were filling a tank car with vinyl acetate. One operator was on the ground, and the other was on top of the car with the nozzle end of a loading hose. A few seconds after the loading operation started, the contents of the tank exploded. The operator on top of the tank was thrown to the ground he sustained a fractured skull and multiple body burns and died from these injuries. 

Moments before the operator restarted the press by pushing the start button on the control panel, the packer had stepped to Ae side of the press and leaned into the platen area to remove the debris from the back of the press. As the operator turned toward the press, she saw the packer trapped between the platen and the fixed die mounted surface. The packer died as a result of a fractured skull. 

A year earlier, in a similar accident on July 6, 2010, at the same stadium, another firefighter and fan, Tyler Morris, fell 30 feet from the second deck in right field trying to catch a foul ball. He survived a fractured skull and a broken ankle when he landed on seats below. 

TABLE C-1. Criteria for Skull Fracture Due to Impact of a Mass of 4.5 kg... 

The spinal cord emerges from the brain stem at the base of the skull and terminates at the second lumbar vertebra. The thoracic spine is most vulnerable to cord compression because of natural kyphosis and because the width of the thoracic spinal canal is the smallest among the vertebrae. Most spinal cord compression is due to adjacent vertebral metastases that compress the spinal cord or from pathologic compression fracture of the vertebra. This results in significant edema and inflammation in the affected area. 

A history of head trauma with or without skull fracture or presence of a chronically draining ear is associated with pneumococcal involvement. 

This method was used in the examination of an Eskimo who died 1600 years ago. The body was discovered in a frozen state on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska in 1972 and remained frozen until it was brought to Fairbanks in 1973. Examination of the female individual revealed that she had a skull fracture, probably resulting from instant bunal caused by a landslide. Aspaitic acid laceiuization analysis of a tooth from the mummy yielded an age at death of 53 5 years, which correlated well with earlier estimates based upon morphological features. This method is an example of the need to preserve mummies (Alaskan. Egyptian, and Peruvian, among others) for application of new dating techniques as they develop. 

On 20 May 1992, a Dutch periodical published an article in which they mentioned the possibility of healing fractures with mother-of-pearl and coral. With this method painful operations could be avoided. The article was illustrated with an ancient Maya skull which showed a hole filled with mother-of-pearl. The ancient Mayas were well ahead of their time. 

In the 1950s, surgeons discovered that titanium metal was not rejected by the body and so was ideal for mending broken bones. It has been used in operations for hip and knee replacements, inserting cranial plates for skull fractures, and even for attaching teeth, some of... 

The past medical history was significant for a dislocated left elbow at 6 months of age that resolved spontaneously, left femur fracture at 16 months of age that occurred while she was trying to pull up to stand, and chronic sinusitis due to an underdeveloped ethmoidal-sphenoid sinus (air-filled cavity in the skull behind the bridge of the nose). Her psychosocial development appeared normal. She was able to crawl and scoot but could not cruise yet. 

Intracranial vascular malformations are uncommon, probably congenital, and sometimes familial (Byrne 2005). Those in the dura, draining into the sinuses rather than cerebral veins, can also be caused by skull fracture, craniotomy or dural sinus thrombosis. The overall intracranial vascular malformations detection rate is approximately 3 per 100 000 population per annum and the prevalence is about 20 per 100 000 (Brown et al. 1996). 

That same year, 19 children (11.3% of the 168 fatalities) died in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995 (Quintana et al., 1997). Sixteen of the children who died were seated by the window of the day care center at the time of the explosion. Among the 19 dead children, 90% sustained skull fractures, with 79% sustaining cerebral evisceration 37% suffered abdominal or thoracic injuries 31% had amputations 47% had arm and 26% had leg fractures 21% were burned and 100% had extensive cutaneous contusions, avulsions, and lacerations (Quintana et al., 1997). Forty-seven children sustained nonfatal injuries, with seven requiring hospitalization (Quintana et al., 1997). Again, hospitalized children sustained severe skull and brain injuries, extremity fractures, amputations, and burns (Quintana et al., 1997). 

They kept me for a while and made sure I hadn t fractured my skull, then let me go, all patched up. I was coming back to normal when they sent me away, about eight hours after eating the mushroom. My face got all black and blue from the fall, but otherwise I was all right. 

Abnormalities of the internal carotid artery Unilateral vascular headache syndromes Direct or indirect trauma Spontaneous or traumatic occlusion Aneurysms Atherosclerosis Spontaneous dissection Lesions involving the middle cranial fossa and cavernous sinus Basal skull fractures... 

RS. a 30-year-old woman, fractured her skull in an accident. She had no other major injuries, no significant blood loss, and her cardiovascular system was stable. She was unconscious for two days after the accident. On the fourth day of her admission to hospital she was noted to be producing large volumes of urine and complaining of thirst. Biochemical findings were ... 

The characteristic signs and symptoms of alcohol intoxication are well known. Nevertheless, an erroneous diagnosis of drunkenness may occur with patients who appear inebriated but who have not ingested ethanol. Diabetic coma, for example, may be mistaken for severe alcoholic intoxication. Drug intoxication, cardiovascular accidents, and skull fractures also may be confused with alcohol intoxication. The odor of the breath of a person who has consumed ethanol is due not to ethanol vapor but to impurities in alcoholic beverages. Breath odor in a case of suspected intoxication can be misleading because there can be other causes of breath odor similar to that after alcohol consumption. BALs are necessary to confirm the presence or absence of alcohol intoxication. 

Ear Hemotympanum Vesicles Basilar skull fracture Facial weakness due to zoster-associated Vllth nerve palsy... 

Monica grimaced when she saw the broad char mark on the side of Ikela s skull. The beam had fractured the bone in several places, roasting the brain to a black pulp. Someone had made very sure his neural nanonics were ruined. "God, what happened here "... 

---