Medical Must-See: Shot through the arm, lodged in the brain
Right-side hemiparesis and altered mental status were initially suggestive of stroke or meningitis, doctors say.
Emergency doctors have described an unusual case of a missing bullet from a shoulder wound that was eventually found in the patient’s brain three days later, but without major organ damage.
The man, in his 20s, presented to the Aga Khan University Hospital ED in Karachi, Pakistan with an altered mental status and right arm weakness.
He was haemodynamically stable but had a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 13, with three points for verbal response, and his pupils reacted slowly to light.
Three days earlier, he had sustained a gunshot injury to the left shoulder from “aerial firing” and was seen at another hospital, where he received a cuff and collar for a clavicular fracture and wound treatment.
