Last night I caught the tail end of one of those medical reality programs in which a young boy survived, and fully recovered from, an “internal decapitation”. :eek:
Unfortunately, since the show was nearly over, I missed the description of how the accident happened or what the injury actually was, with all the gooshy computer graphics and everything. So, what on earth is an “internal decapitation”, and how is it even possible to survive one??
Google sez that that’s where the skull becomes disconnected from the top of the spinal column. I was too chicken to click on any of the links to find out more. :eek:
bawk bawk bawk
Can you be Internally Disemboweled?
Lizardling got the gist of it. It is survivable if the spinal cord is uninjured. One way to look at an internal decapitation is as a really severe joint injury. A dislocated elbow or knee is not fatal. Same with an internal decapitaition, provided that vital nerves are not severed.
Events leading to internal decapitations are predicatbly flukey. Former NBA player Rudy Tomjanovich suffered an internal decapitation after being punched by an oponnent. The punch caught Tomjanovich more or less unaware … IIRC, he pretty much turned into tKermit Washington’s moving fist.
Yep. I believe that Christopher Reeve suffered the same sort of injury, although I don’t know whether the term “internal decapitation” was in common use at the time.
And, BTW, I saw that program, too, a while back. I think the kid had been injured in an automobile accident.
Would this be the same thing as a basal spinal fracture?
Rudy T was the first guy I thought of, too. He pretty much ran headlong at top speed into Kermit’s spinning right cross. Horrific stuff.
I believe the term is “Spontaneous Pan-Corporeal Organ Rejection”
Reminds me of that trick where you slice a banana while it’s still in its peel, using a needle and thread.
You’re thinking of basal skull fracture, which is a fracture in the base of the cranium, where the spinal cord enters the brain. There have been a number of race car drivers who have been killed as a result of that injury, most notably Dale Earnhardt.
That’s what I meant. How is this different? In the case of a basal skull fracture doesn’t the skull seperate from the uppermost cervical vertebra? Or is some structure in the base of the skull itself severing the spinal column?
Yes.
The technical medical term is “Dave’s Insanity Hot Sauce.”
If I’m understanding this correctly, the difference is thus:
Basal skull fracture – the skull itself is cracked or broken near the “skull-to-spinal-column” joint. The joint is essentially intact.
Internal decapitation – no bones are necessarily broken. Rather, the ligaments that keep the “skull-to-spinal-column” joint in place are all torn.
ISTM that the two injuries are not necessarily mutually exclusive.