Evidence on magnetic resonance imaging of Brown-Séquard spinal cord injury suffered indirectly from a gunshot wound.

Abstract

The authors describe a rare case of Brown-Séquard syndrome as a result of indirect, concussive trauma to the spinal cord from a gunshot wound (GSW) and present the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging evidence obtained in this interesting case. The patient was shot in the anterior neck and the bullet passed through the lateral aspect of the C-7 lateral mass and transverse process. Bone fragments from the lateral aspect of C-7 were displaced posteriorly into the soft tissues, but no abnormalities were noted within the spinal canal except for high-intensity signal on T2-weighted MR imaging within the right side of the spinal cord. This is the first reported case to provide MR imaging evidence of a Brown-Séquard spinal cord injury as a result of indirect trauma (concussive injury) from a GSW.