GUNSHOT WOUNDS OF THE BRAIN: REPORT OF TWO UNUSUAL COMPLICATIONS; BIFRONTAL PNEUMOCEPHALUS AND LOOSE BULLET IN THE LATERAL VENTRICLE

Bullet wounds of the brain are by no means invariably fatal. If not killed outright by injury to vital centers or by massive hemorrhage and edema, many persons so wounded should recover. Their survival is made hazardous by hemorrhage, by necrosis and edema of the brain tissue and by infection. Even under the unfavorable conditions prevailing at the front during the last war, Cushing 1 was able to report a mortality rate of only 28.8 per cent 2 in a large series of cases. In a small group of patients treated by us, two somewhat unusual complications were encountered. These were bilateral pneumocephalus and the presence of a loose bullet in the lateral ventricle. With military assignments in prospect for many, the records of these patients are of some interest. REPORT OF CASES Case 1. —The patient had a gunshot wound of the brain with division of the left optic