Penetrating brain injury: a case of survival following blast fragmentation injuries to the head.

We present a case of penetrating head injuries caused by blast fragmentation, along with other serious injuries (including to the arms, face and neck), where a good recovery was made despite an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 75. We suggest that survival and outcome are reliant on several factors and cannot be predicted from ISS, velocity of penetrating injury or presenting Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) alone.