Rare Pediatric Forearm Impalement Due to a Door Handle: Lessons from a Domestic Accident

Impalement injuries, defined as the penetration of rigid objects into body tissues, represent uncommon but potentially serious traumatic events. This report presents a pediatric forearm impalement caused by a domestic door handle and its escutcheon, focusing on case-specific anatomical and surgical considerations. A 15-year-old boy arrived at the emergency department after running into a metal door handle, sustaining a penetrating injury to the dorsal left forearm. The penetrating component was the handle, whereas the escutcheon had been detached by the family before admission. Finger motion was intact, but wrist extension was painful. Radiographs showed a single, unfragmented metal piece within the soft tissues without bone involvement. The object was removed under operating room conditions and was found to traverse between the extensor carpi radialis brevis and extensor digitorum communis tendons without neurotendinous injury. Recovery was uneventful. This case underscores the importance of controlled extraction, careful anatomical assessment, and object-specific surgical planning in pediatric impalement injuries.