While working on his farm in Portugal, a man whose skull and brain were skewered with a metal rod miraculously survived the trauma. The rod was said to be concealed in the soul when machinery ran into it and flung directly to the man's head and pierced his temporal lobe.
He was rushed to Coimbra Hospital and University Center, where surgeons removed the rod. A complete neuro-ophthalmological exam showed he did not suffer any abnormalities after the accident.
Man Impales Skull and Brain With a Metal Rod While Working on a Farm: How Did It Affect Him?
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Neuroscientist Stephanie J. Forkel at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, told Newsweek that the metal entered the man's brain from the bottom of the frontal lobe and went through the temporal lob, which is critical for memory, language, emotions, and visual processing.
Man survives brain skewered with metal rod https://t.co/8SAwSI7wAO
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 22, 2022
She added that the metal was placed laterally and, luckily, spared the networks for memory and emotions. They also confirmed that the injury spared visual processing as it is in the front of the temporal lobe. Although it may have temporarily affected his language abilities.
Furthermore, the man seems very fortunate as the rod missed any vital parts of his brain and crucial blood vessels. Visiting researcher Tony Rao from King's College in London told the news outlet that due to the diameter and curvature of the rod, as well as the point of entry, it provided a lucky escape for the patient to survive with few complications.
He said that the only immediate clinical effect on the man was the damage to eye muscles, but nonetheless, it could have been much worse. The rod penetrated the optic nerve and nerves supplying the face through the sphenoid bone, which also houses the pituitary gland.
Rao pointed out that the patient was lucky enough to miss critical brain structures, such as those that control blood pressure and breathing. Since the rod passed through the temporal lobe, it only had minimal impact on his behavior, unlike if it hit the frontal lobe, which could change the patient's nature, like in the famous case of Phineas Gage.
The team discussed the man's case in their paper, titled "Transorbital Intracranial Penetrating Injury by a Metal Rod Extending to the Temporal Lobe," published in BMJ.
The Case of Phineas Gage
Phineas Gage was a 25-year-old foreman of a crew cutting a railroad bed in Cavendish, Vermont, in 1848 when he was caught in an accident, according to Smithsonian Magazine. On September 13 that year, he was using a tamping iron to pack the explosive powder into a hole when it suddenly detonated.
The 43-inch-long, 1.25 inches in diameter tampering iron shot skyward and penetrated Gage's left cheek, ripping his brain and exiting through his skull before landing several feet away.
He fell on his back and experienced some brief convulsion of the arms and legs. But within a few minutes, he could get himself up and walk with the assistance of a small cart nearby that he used to travel into town.
Dr. Edward H. Williams, who attended to Gage then, could not believe the latter's story but noticed distinct pulsations from his brain and a somewhat inverted funnel on his patient's head. Williams recalled Gage vomiting a teacupful of his brain that fell on the floor from the hole at the top of his skull.
He managed to survive, but his friends found that he had significantly changed. His friends noticed that Gage could not stick to plans, uttered profanity, and showed little deference for his peers. Even his previous company, who once considered him a model foreman refused to take him back. He died at age 36 after a series of seizures, but his name was etched in history, especially in neuroscience.
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