When an 83-year-old female patient fell from a height of just over a metre, she caused potentially fatal damage to her brain. A CT scan revealed that the result of the fall was an acute subdural haematoma, which causes blood to accumulate and clot in the narrow space between the dura mater - a layer of thick membrane that sits directly below the skull - and the surface of the brain.
This space - called the subdural space - is filled with fluid and veins, and if these veins are torn through injury, blood will start to flow out, causing a huge amount of pressure to build up within the skull. This pressure will push down on the delicate brain tissue below, which will lead to severe brain damage followed by death if not treated quickly. A subdural haematoma is one of the deadliest brain injuries you could go through.
Watch above as Mexican neurosurgeon Carlos A. Rodríguez-Alverez, opens up this lady's skull, and clears the clotted blood from above her brain in one grisly but satisfying sweep of the surgeon's answer to the garden hose. And if that's not enough brain surgery for you, Rodríguez-Alverez has a whole YouTube channel revealing the incredible work that goes into one of the most important jobs in the world.
Source: Gizmodo