Chicago man Dante Autullo was recovering yesterday after having a nail removed from his brain – which he hadn't known was there.
X-ray of a nail embedded in Dante Autullo's brain Photo: AP
Dante Autullo thought his doctors were joking, and that he had merely cut himself with a nail gun while building a shed. But they assured him that the X-ray was real: a nail was lodged in the middle of his brain.
Mr Autullo, from Chicago, was recovering on Friday after undergoing surgery at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where doctors removed the 3.75-inch (7.62cm) nail, according to agency reports.
The nail had come within millimeters of the part of the brain that controls motor function.
"When they brought in the picture, I said to the doctor, 'Is this a joke? Did you get that out of the doctors joke file?'" the 32-year-old recalled. "The doctor said, 'No man, that's in your head.'"
As he was rushed by ambulance to another hospital for surgery, he posted a picture of the X-ray on his Facebook page.
Mr Autullo, who lives in Orland Park, said that he was building a shed on Tuesday and was using the nail gun above his head when he fired it. With nothing to indicate that a nail hadn't simply whizzed by his head, his long-time companion, Gail Glaenzer, cleaned the wound with peroxide.
"It really felt like I got punched on the side of the head," he said, adding that he continued working. "I thought it went past my ear."
While there are pain-sensitive nerves on a person's skull, there aren't any within the brain itself. That's why he would have felt the nail strike the skull, but he wouldn't have felt it penetrate the brain.
Neither he nor Miss Glaenzer thought much about it, and Mr Autullo went on with his day, even ploughing a bit of snow. But the next day when he awoke from a nap, feeling nauseated, Miss Glaenzer sensed that something was wrong and suggested they go to the hospital.
At first Mr Autullo refused, but he relented after the two picked up their son at school on Wednesday evening.
An X-ray was taken a couple hours later. And there, seeming to float in the middle of his head, was a nail.
Doctors told Mr Autullo and Miss Glaenzer that the nail came within millimetres of the part of the brain that controls motor function, and he was rushed by ambulance to the other hospital for more specialised care.
"He feels good. He moved all his limbs, he's talking normal, he remembers everything," Miss Glaenzer said. "It's amazing, a miracle."
Neurosurgeon Leslie Schaffer acknowledged that Mr Autullo's case was unusual, but not extremely rare. The surgeon said that having a nail penetrate the skull is not like being shot in the head, noting that a bullet would break into multiple pieces.
"This [the nail] is thinner, with a small trajectory, and pointed at the end," he said. "The bone doesn't fracture much because the nail has a small tip."
Dr Schaffer said that the man's skull stopped the nail going farther into his brain. He said he removed the nail by putting two holes in Mr Autullo's skull, on either side of the nail, then pulled the nail out along with a piece of the skull.
The surgery took two hours, and the part of the skull that was removed for surgery was replaced with a titanium mesh, said Mike Maggio, a hospital spokesman.
"It really felt like I got punched on the side of the head," he said, adding that he continued working. "I thought it went past my ear."
While there are pain-sensitive nerves on a person's skull, there aren't any within the brain itself. That's why he would have felt the nail strike the skull, but he wouldn't have felt it penetrate the brain.
Neither he nor Miss Glaenzer thought much about it, and Mr Autullo went on with his day, even ploughing a bit of snow. But the next day when he awoke from a nap, feeling nauseated, Miss Glaenzer sensed that something was wrong and suggested they go to the hospital.
At first Mr Autullo refused, but he relented after the two picked up their son at school on Wednesday evening.
An X-ray was taken a couple hours later. And there, seeming to float in the middle of his head, was a nail.
Doctors told Mr Autullo and Miss Glaenzer that the nail came within millimetres of the part of the brain that controls motor function, and he was rushed by ambulance to the other hospital for more specialised care.
"He feels good. He moved all his limbs, he's talking normal, he remembers everything," Miss Glaenzer said. "It's amazing, a miracle."
Neurosurgeon Leslie Schaffer acknowledged that Mr Autullo's case was unusual, but not extremely rare. The surgeon said that having a nail penetrate the skull is not like being shot in the head, noting that a bullet would break into multiple pieces.
"This [the nail] is thinner, with a small trajectory, and pointed at the end," he said. "The bone doesn't fracture much because the nail has a small tip."
Dr Schaffer said that the man's skull stopped the nail going farther into his brain. He said he removed the nail by putting two holes in Mr Autullo's skull, on either side of the nail, then pulled the nail out along with a piece of the skull.
The surgery took two hours, and the part of the skull that was removed for surgery was replaced with a titanium mesh, said Mike Maggio, a hospital spokesman.
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