title: Civilian gunshot wounds to the spinal cord and cauda equina.
abstract: We evaluated 42 patients with neurological deficits after civilian gunshot wounds to the spine. Thirty-five of these patients (the study population presented here) received their initial and follow-up care at Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport over a 4-year period. Each patient had incurred a single gunshot wound to the spinal cord or cauda equina with an accompanying neurological deficit. The patient population was divided into three groups. Group 1 patients had incurred a complete motor and sensory loss below the injury (20 patients (57%]. Group 2 patients had incurred incomplete spinal cord injuries (9 patients (26%], whereas Group 3 patients had cauda equina injuries (6 patients (17%]. Myelography was performed for all Group 2 and 3 patients as well as Group 1 patients in whom the trajectory of the bullet did not explain a higher level of neurological injury (3 patients (15%]. A decompressive operation was performed in the patients whose myelography showed neural compression. Three patients in Group 1 (15%), 5 patients in Group 2 (56%), and 5 Group 3 patients (83%) underwent operation. All 3 Group 1 patients who underwent operation had some improvement of nerve root function postoperatively. All operated Group 2 and 3 patients had improvement of myelopathic or radicular function postoperatively. All began improving within several days of operation, implying a cause and effect relationship. None of the 17 nonoperated Group 1 patients improved neurologically, whereas 3 of the 4 nonoperated Group 2 patients improved. The single nonoperated Group 3 patient improved neurologically.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002420:Cauda Equina / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000293:injuries*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009192:Myelography; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000503:physiopathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D013126:Spinal Nerve Roots / Q000503:physiopathology; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy