Severe burn of top of head at seven months of age, followed by necrosis of entire osseous cap of cranium : at fourteen years of age detachment of the entire calvarium by circular craniotomy for epilepsy and defective mental development / by William Williams Keen.

  • Keen, William W. (William Williams), 1837-1932.
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Severe burn of top of head at seven months of age, followed by necrosis of entire osseous cap of cranium : at fourteen years of age detachment of the entire calvarium by circular craniotomy for epilepsy and defective mental development / by William Williams Keen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    ■ SEVERE BURN OF TOP OF HEAD AT SEVEN MONTHS OF AGE, FOLLOWED BY NECROSIS OF ENTIRE OSSEOUS CAP OF CRANIUM * AT FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE DETACHMENT OF THE ENTIRE CALVARIUM BY CIRCULAR CRANIOTOMY FOR EPILEPSY AND DEFECTIVE MENTAL DEVELOPMENT. BY WILLIAM WILLIAMS KEEN, M.D., OF PHILADELPHIA. Professor of Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College. Harry H. W., set. fourteen, was admitted to the Jefferson Medical College Hospital, December 7, 1904, at the request of Dr. W. F. Haines of Seaford, Del., with the following history: At seven months of age his parents left him wrapped up in a shawl in a rocking chair in front of a wood fire, which then con- sisted chiefly of coals, while they went to attend to some farm work. They also left an older child, about two years of age, to take care of him. They were absent from the house for about forty-five minutes. Upon their return they found that the baby in the rocking chair had begun to cry and the two-year-old child had tried to climb into the rocking chair to comfort him. In doing so the chair was overturned forward and the baby thrown into the fire, so that the top of the head was in contact with the live coals. As nearly as can be ascertained by cross-questioning the two-year-old child, and knowing the length of their own absence, the baby’s head lay in the coals not less than twenty and it may have been thirty minutes. As a result of this severe burn, the scalp being thoroughly charred, the whole top of the head sloughed off about six months later, including a large portion of both frontal bones, the two parietal bones in their entirety, and a part of the squamous portion of the right temporal bone. The piece of the squamous bone was lost, but a photograph (Fig. 1) shows the other four pieces of bone their natural size. The four pieces of bone which have been preserved can easily be identified. They are of a dark brown color, the * Read before the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery, February 4, 1907. 21