Iatrogenic brain foreign body.

We describe a case of an adult patient admitted following severe head injury. His condition necessitated the insertion of intracranial pressure monitoring catheter for brain protection management. When the initial crisis was settled, the ICP catheter was gently removed. However after extracting the catheter it was noted that a considerable part of the tip was missing. Plain X-ray of skull confirmed the presence of radio-opaque fragment inside the brain tissue. The patient needed drainage operation within one week of the episode when the catheter fragment was removed with complete recovery. The aim of this paper is to review the literature and to present warning notes on the untoward effects of iatrogenic brain foreign body.