What is a decompressed skull fracture?
Depressed skull fractures result in the bone of the skull vault being folded (depressed) inward into the cerebral parenchyma. It is usually the result of a high energy impact to the skull.
How serious is a depressed skull fracture?
Sometimes, pieces of the fractured skull bone press inward and damage the brain. These types of fractures are called depressed fractures. Depressed skull fractures may expose the brain to the environment and foreign material, leading to infection or the formation of abscesses (collections of pus) within the brain.
Do all depressed skull fractures need surgery?
Most skull fractures, including depressed skull fractures, do not require surgery.
How do you fix a depressed skull fracture?
Methods: Elevation and debridement is recommended as the surgical method of choice. Primary bone fragment replacement is a surgical option in the absence of wound infection at the time of surgery. All management strategies for open (compound) depressed fractures should include antibiotics.
What is longitudinal fracture?
Longitudinal fractures are fractures that occur along (or nearly along) the axis of the bone. This is most often used in the context of a long-bone fracture although traditional classification of temporal bone fractures also used this term.
What is a community fracture?
A comminuted fracture is a break or splinter of the bone into more than two fragments. Since considerable force and energy is required to fragment bone, fractures of this degree occur after high-impact trauma such as in vehicular accidents.
What is a bilateral skull fracture?
Bilateral skull fractures can occur from two direct impact sites, such as two separate blows to the head in inflicted injury. Abusive head trauma, which usually involves violent shaking of an infant, can occur with or without impact of the head against a hard surface.
How do you treat a longitudinal fracture?
Treatment. Immediate first aid consists of splinting the bone with no attempt to reduce the fracture; it should be splinted “as it lies,” which means supporting it in such a way that the injured part will remain steady and will resist jarring if the victim is moved.
What type of fracture does not require surgery?
Closed fracture – The skin remains unbroken. Displaced fracture – The bone fragments on each side of the break aren’t aligned, which may require surgery for complete healing.
What causes a longitudinal fracture?
The causes of breaking may be due to: the weak effect of notch of frenum labiorum; stress concentration on the front part of the base; material fatigue caused by the repeated alternate force and the strength of base material reduced by unsuitable processing.
