Perforating eyelid injury extending to the brain stem in a 17-year-old woman: a case report

Fatal Chest Injury Caused by Windblown Beach Umbrella

We present the case of a windblown beach umbrella inflicting fatal penetrating blunt force to the chest of a 55-year-old female beachgoer. A postmortem examination and detailed case history review were performed which revealed left ventricular trauma, determined to be the cause of death. Using recorded wind speeds from the date of the incident and the weight of the umbrella, we were able to calculate the pressure with which the umbrella struck the victim to be 16,000 PSI. Witness reports, medical records, scene details, and examination of a rental beach umbrella allowed the forensic pathologist to conclude that the object causing this woman's death was a windblown beach umbrella.

Skull and Encephalic Injuries Caused by Beach Umbrellas: Case Reports and Review of Literature

This study reports two unusual cases of skull-encephalic injuries in bathers that were caused by violent impacts with beach umbrellas. The first case concerned a 36-year-old man who, while lying on a sun bed, was struck on his left temple by a beach umbrella, which had been blown away by a gust of wind. The second case concerned a six-year-old child who was struck on the right temporal region while he was playing on the sand. Both subjects died. A review of the literature was carried out. Various skull and brain injuries caused by several objects were found, but no injuries caused by beach umbrellas were detected. There were only cases of injuries caused by normal umbrellas. These cases showed that several objects can be responsible for traumas causing skull and brain injuries, therefore forensic investigation must be supplemented by circumstantial data.

Ophthalmoplegia associated with transorbital penetrating brainstem injury by broken fishing pole

We report our findings in a case of ophthalmoplegia caused by a transorbital penetrating brainstem injury. An 8-year-old boy was accidentally injured by a broken fishing fiberglass pole which penetrated through the right orbit and entered the brainstem. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a linear wound that entered and passed through the pons obliquely and reached the fourth cerebral ventricle and cerebellar vermis. He had a left-sided hemiplegia and left facial nerve palsy and was diagnosed with "one-and-a-half syndrome". His hemiplegia and left facial nerve palsy resolved in 2 weeks leaving only a left abducens nerve palsy. The eye position and eye movements fully recovered within 3 months. These findings suggest a good prognosis for this type of trauma unless life-threatening changes develop.