- A teenager had part of her skull removed and stored in her abdomen after a car accident left her with life-threatening injuries.
- Chelsey Smith was 15 when she got in a life-threatening car crash that caused her brain to swell.
- The procedure, which is relatively common, saved her life.
A teenager had part of her skull removed and stored in her abdomen after a car accident left her with life-threatening injuries.
Chelsey Smith, from Scotland, was just 15 when she was involved in an accident that caused her brain to swell. She was rushed to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow in critical condition.
To save Smith’s life, consultant pediatric neurosurgeon Roddy O’Kane removed the bone under Smith’s forehead to give her brain space to swell. The procedure lasted four hours, local news outlet Glasgow Times reported.
The bone can rapidly deteriorate if it’s not preserved. To keep it healthy, the surgeon implanted part of Smith’s skull in her abdomen, just under her skin. There, Smith’s immune system could help keep the bone protected from microbes.
Smith carried the bone in her stomach for weeks while her brain was recovering from the accident and the swelling was dying down.
Just a year after the accident, the teenager, now 16, has made an incredible recovery, per her surgeon.
"There was a real danger to her life and we also anticipated that there would be more of a lasting impact on her life," said O'Kane, per Glasgow Times.
"Chelsey's recovery is absolutely remarkable, based on her condition when she arrived it is incredible to see how well she is doing," he said.
Smith is now preparing for her end-of-term exams. She hopes to become an accountant one day.
"Roddy was able to magically take a part of my skull and put it in my stomach to let the swelling reduce in my brain, I don't really know how it works but it's amazing," she said, per the Sunday Times.
"I don't remember much about the day of the accident to be honest, but I'm here now and that's what matters," she said.
A procedure that saved Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy
Though the procedure is certainly not "everyday" medicine, O'Kane told the Sunday Times, it's not unprecedented.
In fact, it is what saved Roy Horn of the popular on-stage duo, Siegfried and Roy, after Horn was mauled by his white tiger on stage, according to onlookers (Horn maintained he suffered a stroke and the animal was trying to save him).
The procedure serves to save the brain when it swells to be too big for the skull. Just like a bash to the elbow can cause it to bulge out, the brain can bruise or swell when it is knocked about in the skull during trauma.
That can be dangerous. As the brain swells, it presses against the vessels that bring blood, oxygen, and nutrients. That's when the brain tissue can be at risk.
Removing part of the skull can give the brain space to swell so that it has time to recover. While the idea of keeping the skull bone in the abdomen is fairly new, the idea of drilling a hole in the skull to relieve the pressure in the skull is not.
It's one of the oldest forms of surgery, a procedure called trepanation. This dates back at least 8,000 years.
