경부 자상에 의한 뇌간 손상

Brain stem injury by stab wound: case report

Non-fatal penetrating injuries to the brain stem are rare. We report a case of brain stem injury by stab wound through the anterior neck. A 58-year-old man was transferred via the emergency transport. He had been found alone 2 hours earlier in his room, with a large and blunt knife penetrated to his anterior neck. The mentality was drowsy and vital signs were not stable. He performed the surgery under the general anesthesia, including anterior neck dissection and pulling-off the knife. After the recovery of the mentality, the sixth cranial nerve palsy of the left eye was found. We assumed that the palsy was associated with the upand- down movement of the tip during the removal of the knife. He was discharged with the functional recovery, 1 month postoperatively. This case provides an opportunity to study discrete and selective damage to neuroanatomical structures of the brain stem with clinical correlates.