Something for The Hurt Locker 2

Last month, physicians at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan removed a 14.5-mm explosive round, containing about 5 g of explosive, from the scalp of an Afghan National Army soldier. The 2 1/2-inch round was lodged into the soldier's scalp after he was involved in a roadside bomb attack, revealed a recent Air Force press release. Friday's NYT picked up the story, adding more details.

Seems that the medical staff first believed that the Afghani merely sustained a shrapnel wound to the head; however, on closer inspection, thanks to CT images, the radiologist realized that the foreign object was an explosive round, "primed to go off." Nice pick up.

The discovery, which prompted the bomb squad, led to the evacuation of the operating suite, and the remaining operating personnel had to wear body armor. Electronic monitoring machines also had to be turned off, for fear of triggering the device. Because the bomb squad suspected that the live round probably had an impact detonator in the tip, instructions to the lead surgeon were, "Just don't drop it."

A frontal skull image provided by the Air Force shows the round lodged in the right frontal area of the patient's scalp, evidently resting on the skull.

However, a horizontal CT image shows that the round is lodged between 2 skull fragments in the right frontal area. This image suggests (to me) that the device impacted the head sideways, probably blasting into the Afghani's head from his left and grazing his brow before burying itself under a created skull fragment.

The round was removed successfully, and the Afghan soldier reportedly continues to recover.