Abstract
The availability of sophisticated hunting and sports weapons such as modern crossbows increases the incidence of uncommon types of accidental, suicidal, and homocidal head injuries. This report describes the case of a 47-year-old man with a nonfatal head injury due to a crossbow broadhead hunting arrow penetrating the left frontal lobe. The injury was accidentally self-inflicted by the intoxicated patient. A review of the literature has shown that self-inflicted head injuries caused by arrows are a very rare or, at least, a seldom reported entity. The mechanisms and pathophysiology of penetrating head injuries caused by different kinds of projectiles are discussed in order to clarify the management of these cases.
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Received: December 27, 2001; revision accepted: June 12, 2002
Correspondence Address Olaf Suess, MD, Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Benjamin Franklin, Free University of Berlin, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12200 Berlin, Germany, Phone (+49/30) 8445-2531, Fax -3569, e-mail: olaf.suess@medizin.fu-berlin.de
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Suess, O., Kombos, T., Suess, S. et al. Self-Influcted Intracranial Injury Caused by a Crossbow Arrow. Eur J Trauma 28, 310–313 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00068-002-1196-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00068-002-1196-x