====== Depressed skull fracture ======

{{ ::depressedskullfracture.jpg?200|}}
Depressed [[skull fracture]] commonly results from trauma and usually occurs following high-speed impact with a small object. The outer and inner tables of the skull typically break concurrently. 

===== Etiology =====


A depressed skull fracture is a type of [[fracture]] usually resulting from blunt force trauma, such as getting struck with a hammer, rock or getting kicked in the head. These types of fractures—which occur in 11% of [[severe head injury]]. 
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see [[Intracranial gunshot wound]]
===== Classification =====
Open-depressed skull fracture with parenchymal injury...

Compound depressed skull fractures occur when there is a laceration over the fracture, putting the internal cranial cavity in contact with the outside environment, increasing the risk of contamination and infection. In complex depressed fractures, the dura mater is torn. 

[[Fronto-ethmoid-naso-orbital depressed skull fracture]]

==== Depressed skull fractures in pediatrics ====

[[Depressed skull fractures in pediatrics]]

see also [[Ping pong skull fracture]].



===== Clinical features =====



From asymptomatic to [[coma]] from [[intracranial hypertension]]

===== Diagnosis =====

Skull [[X-ray]]s (SXR) : not recommended unless [[Head computed tomography]] is not available. Useless if normal. An SXR is helpful only if positive (a clinically unsuspected [[depressed skull fracture]] might be important)
===== Treatment =====
see [[Depressed skull fracture treatment]].

===== Outcome =====
Depressed skull fractures present a high risk of increased pressure on the brain, or a hemorrhage to the brain that crushes the delicate tissue.

Open-[[depressed skull fracture]] with parenchymal injury are high risk criteria for [[posttraumatic seizure]]s.

[[Infection]]

===== Case series =====

[[Depressed skull fracture case series]].

===== Case reports =====

A case from practice is presented - the infliction of fatal self-harm with clerical scissors with the formation of a comminuted depressed terrace-like fracture of the cranial vault. The given case is interesting for forensic experts, first of all, because it demonstrates the possibility of suicide with an unusual object - scissors and an area of injury that is unlikely for self-infliction - the vault of the skull
((Yagmurov OD, Nazarova NE. Smertel'nye samopovrezhdeniya nozhnitsami s obrazovaniem oskol'chatogo vdavlennogo terrasovidnogo pereloma svoda cherepa [Fatal self-harm with scissors with the formation of a comminuted depressed terraced fracture of the cranial vault]. Sud Med Ekspert. 2021;64(2):43-45. Russian. doi: 10.17116/sudmed20216402143. PMID: 33739069.)).