Teenager survives knife in brain!!!1

[Big Les]

You may see sensational news reports of an image released by UK police to highlight the dangers of knife crime. It appears to show, and is claimed or implied by many sources, as showing a knife embedded several inches into a boy's skull.

The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/3110306/X-ray-shows-knife-embedded-in-head-of-teenage-boy.html) actually says;
He was stabbed through his forehead and the blade embedded itself in his brain, removing five per cent of his total brain matter.

But The Times contains the potentially revealing quote (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4854595.ece) from a police spokesman that;

“The blade was a kitchen knife and because of that it was flexible and went around the bone.
(Bolded for emphasis).

Am I right in thinking that the blade did not in fact enter his skull?

[Damien Evans]

Maybe it went through a gap between bones?

[slingblade]

I have no way to know, from two news articles and two x-rays, if you are right or not.

It looks as if the knife rests between the skull and the scalp. It does not look, from the front view, as if the knife actually penetrated the skull. The knife blade looks curved to me, in that view.

But I am no doctor, or radiologist. Both stories report the young man has nerve damage. The Telegraph article says the knife "removed" brain tissue. That's a poor word choice, if nothing else. "Damaged" or "destroyed" would have been much more apt.

Can you get the sort of nerve damage reported from having a knife between your skull and scalp? Yes? Then the Tele seems to have exaggerated. No? Then some sort of cranial penetration does seem indicated.

Why do you want to know?

[JimBenArm]

Besides, it's a teenager's brain. Not like it's a part they actually use...