Gabrielle Giffords

[SSdoc33]

So, I'm not a regular on this forum, but had a question for the seasoned neurosurgeons out there. How the #$@& did Rep. Giffords survive her GSW? Has anybody else seen a GSW travel the entire length of an entire hemisphere of the brain, exit, and survive? This was from a glock 4 feet away. Outcomes notwithstanding (although she does seem to be doing well), I just found the entire story pretty unbeliveable. Please educate me if you have all seen similar scenarios.

Thanks

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[canjosh]

From a ballistics perspective...

The guy was shooting a 9mm from a short distance. So you've got a pretty high muzzle velocity, but depending on the frangibility of the load (jacketed hollow point vs. full metal jacket) there may have been minimal/near zero expansion of the projectile intracranially. Thus, you'd have a high-velocity round traveling through the cranium with a small diameter tract. Compare this to the tract created by a .45 hollow point round, and the outcome may have been much different.

 

[ACGator09]

have you heard of the Phineas Gage story? long story short, the guy had a metal rod go through from below his eye and out the top of his head and he survived. changed a lot personality-wise, but survived. and this was in the... 1800s?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage

 

[mpp]

I don't think we know through how much brain the bullet traveled. As long as the shock wave does not damage the critical structures (essentially, the brain stem) there is no reason that she should not live. She could be neurologically devastated (hemiplegic, possibly aphasic although it sounds like she is not) but could survive.

 

[SSdoc33]

thanks for the responses. if what we hear in the media is accurate, she seems to be doing surprisingly well

 

[Bombrainiac]

Full copper-jacketed bullet. High cranial shot on the left, did not travel across midline, ventricles intact, natural decompression with through-and-through shot, pre-blast wave often moves vessels out of the way before the bullet hits.
Her intern helped position her so she could breath more easily, and she got a hemicraniectomy very soon after the injury.

All of the above = survivable.

 

[Meibomian SxN]

So, I'm not a regular on this forum, but had a question for the seasoned neurosurgeons out there. How the #$@& did Rep. Giffords survive her GSW? Has anybody else seen a GSW travel the entire length of an entire hemisphere of the brain, exit, and survive? This was from a glock 4 feet away. Outcomes notwithstanding (although she does seem to be doing well), I just found the entire story pretty unbeliveable. Please educate me if you have all seen similar scenarios.

Thanks

The reports said that the bullet entered from the front and exited above her ear, making the bullet travel very short. I believe if it traversed the entire length of the brain it would have been a more fatal tragedy.

I too am very impressed with her medical teams efforts!

 

[Conqueror]

I have even seen bi-hemispheric transcranial GSWs survive. One guy shot himself in the temple - blew up his frontal lobes, shattered his midface, but missed all the important stuff more posteriorly and was walking the halls a few days later (blind and frontal).