Phineas Gage....
....rest in peace
Ludicrously lucky teen survives spear through brain
Sixteen-year-old Yasser Lopez will likely have a "miraculous recovery" despite a three-foot spear having been thrust through his head. "If you had to have a spear go through there [the head], then this spear chose the right path to go with the least damage," neurosurgeon Ross Bullock told ABC News. The Reg admits to some …
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Tuesday 19th June 2012 23:46 GMT Exit Stage Right
Re: First rule of weapons handling:
My friend had a "gun" dog that as soon as he picked up a rifle/shotgun would move like lightning to his owners left leg; we were convinced it had seen enough of what happened to things the "business" end had seen to and it was determined not to be one of them.
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Wednesday 20th June 2012 01:26 GMT jake
@ESR (was: Re: First rule of weapons handling:)
All my gundogs have done that, since before I can remember. It's called good training. I don't hunt anymore, but my old Standard Poodle[1] still does that, and then gets disgusted when we head for my target range. When the migrating geese are over-nighting on my ponds, he sits on the rug in front of the fireplace, staring at Grandad's old shotgun that hangs over it, and occasionally shoots me a withering look ... He never quite managed to make the change between "Browning" and "Hasselblad" :-/
Side note: Beer & weapons are never a good mix.
[1] Wonderful bird dogs, if you know what you are doing.
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Tuesday 19th June 2012 22:36 GMT ArmanX
I'm a bit confused...
The article says the spear went in just above his right eye, and that he would have some trouble with the left side of his body... but the article also says that the spear went through his left hemisphere. Which, as far as I know, is on the left side of the body. Thus "left".
Or was this a magic spear?
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Wednesday 20th June 2012 01:15 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: I'm a bit confused...
I was wondering about that too. From the description of the damage it sounded like the spear went at an angle through his head; likely going right between the two hemispheres at least part of the way. But the bit about motor function doesn't work out right.
First, the brain maps all signals to the opposite hemisphere, so the left hemisphere would control the right half of his body. Second, since the motor and tactile sensory areas are in the middle of the brain (from front to back) they would be less likely to be damaged than his personality (prefrontal cortex--front of the brain, above the eyes) or his vision (visual cortex--back of the brain).
Looking at the original ABC article, they said:
"The X-rays of Lopez’s head showed the spear went all the way through his head at an angle and exited the other side but just missed his eye and dodged all major blood vessels in Lopez’s brain. It also traveled through the right hemisphere of his brain, less than one inch above the central brain that controls the senses, heart rate and breathing."
So, it did traverse the right hemisphere of his brain, which may produce issues with the left side of his body or any of the other myriad functions which are implemented over there. Though, from the sounds of it, I'd expect a more temporary loss of functionality until the brain remaps and rebuilds around the damage.
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Thursday 21st June 2012 23:25 GMT ArmanX
Re: I'm a bit confused...
@John McCallum - yes, but the left hemisphere is usually in the left half of your head. Thus "left" hemisphere. And it controls the right half of the body, you're right - but the article says the boy will have problems with the left side of his body, instead. It sounds as if the article swapped 'right' and 'left' for the brain bit, but not the rest of the description.
@anon and wowfood - it doesn't make a lot of sense that it would enter above the right eye and miss the right hemisphere... I suppose it's possible, but not at such an angle as the spear pokes out the back.
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Tuesday 19th June 2012 22:44 GMT bep
Ouch
I understand that the first definite indication that different areas of the brain controlled different functions resulted from an even more traumatic injury to a US railway builder in the 19th Century. He was tamping down some dynamite with a three foot crowbar when 'BOOM'. Crowbar went clean through his skull and travelled a considerable distance down-range. He survived but had distinct personality changes (not just a fear of dynamite and crowbars).
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Wednesday 20th June 2012 11:19 GMT The Fuzzy Wotnot
No
' The temptation if you don't have experience with these things is, 'Oh well, pull it out'," '
No! I have no experience with these things but common sense would tell me that would be the most stupid thing to do! Even more so for something like a barb weapon designed NOT to come back out that easily!
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Saturday 23rd June 2012 23:22 GMT Anonymous Coward
Just a thought
But would anti tetanus even help?
Thought that the whole point was to generate an immune reaction to the tetanus causing bacterium, but immune responses don't work for the brain due to the presence of the blood brain barrier which blocks white cells etc.
One of the reasons that medical implants can be used for intracranial use without additional surface treatment.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
