Upper cervical spinal cord gunshot injury without bone destruction

Abstract INTRODUCTION This report describes a rare case of the gunshot injury of the spine and spinal cord. PRESENTATION OF CASE A rare case of the bullet lodged intra-durally in the upper cervical region without damaging the vertebrae or the spinal cord. The bullet was removed as microneurosurgical and duraplasty was performed. DISCUSSION Surgical management of the gunshot wounds of the spine and spinal cord is not widely advocated and controversial. CONCLUSION Advances in microneurosurgical instrumentation and microscopic techniques may open up a new era of surgical treatment of spinal cord gunshot wounds.