Docs successfully remove pencil from 9 yr old’s head

A team of neuro surgeons from a city-based hospital were successful in performing a surgery on nine-year-old Madhupriya, who had sustained a head injury that involved a pencil piercing 10 cm deep into her brain, recently. The girl was doing her home work when she accidentally tripped and her head landed on a pencil that she was holding.

The pencil penetrated her brain and the girl immediately slipped into coma. The parents rushed her to a nearby hospital, where doctors tried to remove the pencil in vain. They then took her to Sai Krishna Neuro Hospital, Kacheguda, where a team of surgeons consisting Prof. Dr TV Srinivas, Dr S Jaypal Reddy, Dr SA Jaleel Kirmani and Dr T Anil Kumar performed a craniotomy to remove the pencil.

“This incident of a pencil penetrating the skull directly into the brain is an extremely rare form of injury and has not been reported before from India to the best of our knowledge. In such an untoward incident, no attempt should be made to pull out these objects form the skull and needs to be treated in a hospital under the care of a neuro surgeon,” said Prof. TC Srinivas. The child since then has been recovering well and is due for discharge soon.