Unintentional penetrating brain injuries caused by air rifles in teenagers: Two case report

• Main Authors: Muhammad I. Rahmatullah, Muhammad, Muhammad Arifin Parenrengi, Muhammad, Wihasto Suryaningtyas, Wihasto
• Format: Article PeerReviewed
• Language: English; Indonesian; English
• Published: Elsevier
• Subjects: R5-920 Medicine (General)
• Online Access: https://repository.unair.ac.id/124330/1/3.%20Jurnal%20Unintentional.pdf; https://repository.unair.ac.id/124330/2/3.%20Karil%20Bidang%20Ilmu%20%28%20Unintentional..%29.pdf; https://repository.unair.ac.id/124330/3/3.%20Unintentional%20penetrating%20brain%20injuries%20caused%20by%20air%20rifles%20in%20teenagers%20two%20cases%20report%20%281%29.pdf; https://repository.unair.ac.id/124330/; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214751921001158?via%3Dihub; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inat.2021.101203
• Institution: Universitas Airlangga

Abstract Pellet guns are non-powder guns but their related injuries have been reported worldwide. They represent a significant cause of injury especially among children and teenagers. We present two cases of non-powder firearms. First case was a 13-year old male with a chief complaint of headache following gunshot accident towards his head. The bullet’s entry point was from the buccal region, going upwards fracturing the orbital roof, hitting the inner table of the frontal skull and ricocheted towards the parietal region. Second case was a 14-year old male who presented with cerebrospinal leakage, pulsating at the bullet’s entry point in the frontal area. Despite several opinions existed for these type of injuries, aggressive management for surgical extraction of the foreign body is the largely accepted treatment. The leaded bullet had to be extracted to avoid future damage from the metal’s known neurotoxicity. Often under-appreciated, we found difficulties in our experience for increasing the understanding and awareness for potentially fatal outcome regarding the gunshot wound brain injury. This obstacle often hinders the patient of consenting to surgical intervention in our population.