Head Injuries

Head Injuries. An injury to the head is always a matter for serious consideration, and, however slight the mischief may at first sight appear, the possible complications which may supervene should render it imperative that the most careful precautions are taken. Injuries of fihe head may be divided into simple contusions, wounds of the scalp, extravasation of blood within the cranial cavity, fracture of the skull, injury to the brain or its membranes and nerve lesions. Various complications of head injuries are met with. Erysipelas is the commonest of these. In severe injury inflammation, leading to the formation of matter within the skull, may occur, and in rare instances a portion of brain substance may protrude through a wound in the bony case of the skull, a condition which is known as hernia cerebri. Fracture may involve the vertex or the base of the skull. A characteristic symptom of fracture of the base is the escape of blood or cerebro-spinal fluid from the meatus of the ear. Injuries of the brain itself have been discussed under Concussion.

In certain head injuries it is sometimes necessary to perform the operation of trephining the skull.