Attempt to make firearm turns ugly for 16-yr-old in Sikkim; doctors remove shrapnel from boy's skull

GANGTOK

Doctors of the Department of Neurosurgery at Central Referral Hospital (CRH) successfully removed a foreign metallic-like body lodged inside a young boy’s skull in Sikkim.

The 16-year-old boy was admitted to the emergency ward following bouts of headache, nausea, vomiting and fever.

According to reports, the boy sustained minor injuries three months back while he was trying out a firearm he had built after watching various online videos.

The homemade firearm allegedly backfired and injured him.

Since the wound appeared minimal, he did not go to the hospital and instead took over-the-counter medications. However, he soon experienced intense headaches accompanied by nausea, vomiting and fever.

As the symptoms worsened, family members brought him to CRH for treatment. A CT scan and X-ray revealed a foreign metallic-like body inside the skull.

Contrast-enhanced CT scans showed multiple pockets of pus surrounding the projectile. There was also significant oedema of the surrounding brain.

Dr Pranav, a consultant neurosurgeon and his team, performed the surgery using a neurosurgical microscope to explore the brain without injuring its delicate structures.

Dr Pranav Rai has been working in CRH since December 2019. He has successfully treated over 100 complicated neurosurgery cases involving trauma, infections, tumours, congenital conditions and others.

Though the patient made a remarkable recovery from the surgery, the details concerning the accident are now under police investigation.