PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Goonewardene, SS AU - Mangat, KS AU - Sargeant, ID AU - Porter, Keith AU - Greaves, I TI - Tetraplegia following cervical spine cord contusion from indirect gunshot injury effects AID - 10.1136/jramc-153-01-12 DP - 2007 Mar 01 TA - Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps PG - 52--53 VI - 153 IP - 1 4099 - http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/content/153/1/52.short 4100 - http://militaryhealth.bmj.com/content/153/1/52.full SO - J R Army Med Corps2007 Mar 01; 153 AB - We present the case of a 31 year old British soldier who sustained a high energy gunshot injury to the neck with delayed onset tetraplegia. The bullet’s transcervical track was subsequently shown to have had no direct contact with the spinal cord, but four to five minutes after injury the patient developed tetraplegia. Subsequent Magnetic Resonance Imaging confirmed this to be due to contusion of the cervical spinal cord. This case illustrates the high levels of energy potentially transferred to surrounding tissues by the passage of a high available energy projectile, causing significant injury to nearby structures not actually impacted by the missile.