Gunshot wounds to the spine

With the rise of violence throughout the world, the incidence of gunshot wound injuries continues to increase (1). Among the most troublesome are gunshot wounds to the spine, which account for 13 to 17% of all spinal cord injuries (SCIs) each year (2,3). Most common in the thoracic region, they are perhaps most devastating in the cervical spine where the potential for severe neurological impairment is greatest (2,4). Spinal gunshot wounds occur most frequently in young males between the ages of 15 and 34 years (3,5,6). Spinal cord injuries resulting from gunshot wounds are more likely to result in complete sensorimotor paralysis compared with SCIs from blunt trauma (1). Of victims of gunshot wounds resulting in SCI, approximately half result in paraplegia and half in tetraplegia (7). Like spinal cord injuries in general, incomplete injuries from gunshot wounds have much better prognoses (8)