Penetrating Sacral Injury with a Wooden Foreign Body

Abstract

Spinal penetrating trauma has a complex neurosurgical management. This study presents a 55-year-old male admitted in our center with a 1 × 1 centimeter laceration on the sacral area skin due to a wooden penetrating object. The computed tomography (CT) of the spine revealed a hypodense penetrating object that was introduced from the posterior aspect of the sacrum into dural space and then stopped in the S1 vertebral body. We performed a laminectomy of intact superior portion of the S1 lamina and released the wood from the surrounding bone, and finally, we pulled it out.

Figure 1

A pelvic X-ray shows sacral bone defect (a). The axial (b) and sagittal (c) CT scan of lumbosacral area shows a hypodense penetrating object that was introduced from the posterior aspect of the sacrum and then stopped in the S1 vertebral body. Also, intraoperative illustration can be observed before (d) and after (e) wood removal.