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Shotgun injury to the head

Case contributed by Roberto Schubert
Diagnosis certain

Presentation

Prior shotgun head injury.

Patient Data

Age: 40 years
Gender: Female

Note: This case has been tagged as "legacy" as it no longer meets image preparation and/or other case publication guidelines.

Lateral skull CT scout

x-ray

Lateral planning CT scout demonstrates a large number of radiopaque rounded foreign bodies predominantly overlying the forehead.  Note how the fragments over the forehead are flattened, whereas the ones elsewhere are more rounded. 

ct

Two selected images of the brain demonstrate the predominantly superficial location of the shotgun pellets. A few pellets have penetrated the skull and are situated in the left frontal lobe, near the left optic canal and in the right caudate head.

Case Discussion

This patient re-presented with aggravating headaches. She had been shot in the face with a shotgun several years earlier after which she had been in a coma for 5 months.

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