Cerebral Fat Embolism after Intramedullary Nailing for Femur and Tibia Fractures: A Case Report / 대한신경손상학회지

ABSTRACT

We are to report a case of cerebral fat embolism for presenting with unconsciousness without any respiratory dysfunction after intramedullary nailing for femur and tibia fractures. A sixteen-year-old boy was involved in motorcycle accident. His consciousness was alert. He had closed shaft fractures of left femur and left tibia and underwent standard femoral and tibial nail insertions. During the operation, there was no change of vital signs and saturation of oxygen. The consciousness was stuporous after the surgery. The brain CT was normal, but multiple high-signal intensity lesions in T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted images were found at bilateral cerebral hemispheres, corpus callosum, and pons. He woke up on postoperative day 12 and recovered to speak fluently without any neurological deficits at 3 months later. MR image should be recommended if the patient is not neurologically stable after the surgery for lone-bone fractures.