PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - SS Goonewardene
AU  - KS Mangat
AU  - ID Sargeant
AU  - Keith Porter
AU  - I Greaves
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.