Abstract
The number of foreign body cases in the outpatient clinic of otolaryngology department is about 0.5-2％ of the total number of new patients.
We report a case of an intracranial foreign body through the nasal cavity, which is extremely rare among such cases.
The patient was a 39-year-old man. After cleaning the nasal cavity with a self-made cotton swab on a resin stick, he noticed the loss of the tip of the swab and visited his previous doctor. A foreign body was found in the left olfactory fissure, but it was difficult to remove and the patient was referred to our department. No foreign body was found in the nasal cavity at the time of initial examination and so CT was performed. A foreign body was found to have perforated the olfactory fissure and penetrated the cranium, so a craniotomy was performed to remove the foreign body. The patient was discharged 10 days after surgery without complications.
Since intracranial perforation is frequently associated with spinal fluid leakage and infection, it is dangerous to remove a foreign body before evaluating the damage by imaging diagnosis.
Early surgical removal is necessary, but close cooperation with neurosurgery is important.
