Chonnam Med J.  2003 Jun;39(2):130-133.

Intracranial Bullet Migration in Penetrating Missile Injury

• Song KB
• Cho KY
• Kim YS
• Lim SG
• Lim JS

Abstract

We report a case of bullet injury to the brain with unusual complication. The retained bullet in the brain moved by gravity. A 33-year old female was admitted to with a gun-shot injury on the head. There was a single entrance wound in the right parietal region with no exit site. The brain CT showed many bony fragments and hemorrhage along with the bullet trajectory in the right frontoparietal lobe. The bullet was lodged in the upper portion of splenium. After 2 weeks obervation, follow-up CT showed the bullet migrated into the left parietooccipital lobe. There was no neurologic symptoms except calculation difficulties. Surgery was performed and the retained bullet was successfully removed. In conclusion, it is recommended that repeated follow-up x-ray or brain CT should be obtained before surgical removal of intracerebral bullets.

Keyword

Missile injury; Intracerebral bullet; Migrating bullet

MeSH Terms

Adult
Brain
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Gravitation
Head
Hemorrhage
Humans
Neurologic Manifestations
Rabeprazole
Wounds and Injuries