An 11-year-old boy was left with a 5cm-long stick hanging out of his scrotum after falling out of a tree.
The youngster, from Makassar in Indonesia, lost his footing while climbing the two-metre trunk.
The unidentified boy fell on a branch, which doctors revealed pierced his genitalia and missed his testicles by millimetres.
Medics gently prised the foreign object out and gave him antibiotics. He made a full recovery within a month.
Experts told MailOnline the boy was ‘fortunate’ the stick didn’t slam into his testicles or vital arteries, which could have led to life-changing injuries.
The 11-year-old boy lost his footing climbing a tree in Makassar, Indonesia, and fell on a tree stump. In the fall his scrotum was impaled on a stick (pictured) which missed his testicles by millimetres
Doctors ran scans to ensure there was no damage to his testicles. Then they gradually prised the stick from his scrotum. Pictured above is the stick in his scrotum
This scan shows the 5cm stick (shown by the blue arrow) impaled into his scrotum. It missed his testicles by millimetres. Experts said he was lucky not to suffer long-term injuries
The accident happened in Makassar, Indonesia. It was reported in Urology Case Reports
What makes up the scrotum?
The scrotum is effectively a sack of skin and soft tissue that protects the testicles and keeps them at the right temperature.
It is formed of two layers with a layer of skin on the outside — the first line of defence — and a muscular layer called the Dartos muscle underneath.
This works to keep the testicles at the right temperature.
It contracts when it is too cold to make the skin wrinkle and conserve heat.
And relaxes when it is too warm causing the testicles to ‘hang low’.
The body prefers to keep testicles at 34C (93.2F), which is slightly below its average temperature of 37C (98.6F).
The scrotum also contains a middle layer of skin — or raphne — that divides the two testicles into separate compartments.
It is visible on the outside of the body as a ridge running down the middle of the scrotum.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
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In the journal of Urology Case Reports they described how the boy was taken to hospital four hours after the accident.
Grisly pictures showed the stick had penetrated the bottom left of his scrotum, and reached his pubic bone.
Doctors scanned the area to confirm his testicles weren’t damaged before removing the stick.
A small plastic pipe was placed in his wound — called a Penrose drain — to remove any excess fluid.
The boy was given antibiotics and a tetanus vaccine to help stop him developing any infection.
When he was examined a month later, doctors who treated him said he had made a full recovery.
Jonathan Glass, a consultant urological surgeon and member of the Royal College of Surgeons, said the boy had a lucky escape.
He told MailOnline: ‘This young boy was fortunate in that the foreign body did not pierce any vital structures.’
Mr Glass added: ‘Penetrating injury to the scrotum and perineum is fortunately rare.
‘Life changing injury could occur if the penetrating object were to pass through the urethra, the testis or the penis.
‘Other structures at risk, had the object passed within the abdomen would be the bladder, the small and large bowel, and (major arteries and veins).
‘All of these injuries could have had life-long consequences for this patient.’
Injuries to the scrotum are fortunately rare. But in February last year a 21-year-old athlete was left needing 18 stitches after his scrotum was impaled by a pole.
Stomach-turning footage showed Zach McWhorter successfully complete his pole vault in Provo, Utah, only for his scrotum to be hit by the pole as he came back to land.
The student was rushed to hospital by his urologist father to have the wound quickly stitched up.
Source link : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9495761/Boy-11-needs-5cm-long-stick-removed-SCROTUM-falling-tree.html
