Indirect gunshot spinal cord injury: A case report

Abstract

Spinal cord injury from gunshot wounds represents 13% of spinal trauma cases. Myelopathy may not necessarily be caused by direct compromise of the spinal cord and canal, but instead can result from adjacent gunshot wounds through the transfer of energy to the cord causing underlying contusions. We present a case of paraplegia caused by a gunshot wound Injury to the upper thoracic spine, causing evident myelopathy on magnetic resonance Imaging (MRI) of the spine and confirmed by somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs), where there was no evidence of spinal canal compromise. In addition to this case, only seven such cases were reported in the literature. In this paper, we review and discuss the similarities and differences In all the reported cases. © 2021 Lebanese Order of Physicians. All rights reserved.