Detection of a giant wooden foreign body with multidetector computed tomography and multiplanar reconstruction imaging

We describe the case of an unusual (unbelievable) giant wooden foreign body traversing the neck via the glabella. The relationship between the giant wooden foreign body and the nasopharynx air column was demonstrated through multidetector computed tomography (CT). The wooden foreign body mimicking air on a standard CT window setting was distinguished from air with the use of a higher CT window setting. Cases of accidental penetration injury of the head and neck by foreign bodies are not rare, but the entry of giant wooden foreign bodies into the neck via the glabella has never been reported in the literature. In our case patient, such a giant wooden foreign body was detected neither in the emergency department nor during radiologic investigations (conventional radiograms and standard CT) until the patient underwent multidetector CT 8 days after the related accident. © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.