What is a depressed fracture?

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What is a depressed fracture?

A depressed fracture occurs when a piece of bone is driven inward toward the brain, creating an indentation in the skull. This inward displacement is the hallmark of the injury, often resulting from blunt head trauma and can be open or closed depending on skin involvement. The other descriptions refer to different fracture types: an impacted fracture has fragments driven into each other, a closed fracture has no open wound, and a compression fracture involves the bone being crushed on itself (as with vertebrae).

A depressed fracture occurs when a piece of bone is driven inward toward the brain, creating an indentation in the skull. This inward displacement is the hallmark of the injury, often resulting from blunt head trauma and can be open or closed depending on skin involvement. The other descriptions refer to different fracture types: an impacted fracture has fragments driven into each other, a closed fracture has no open wound, and a compression fracture involves the bone being crushed on itself (as with vertebrae).

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