“Delayed Recovery” in Peripheral Nerve Lesions Caused by High Velocity Projectile Wounding

Abstract
Bullets or shrapnel may produce physiologic blockade of nerve without distortion of the intraneural anatomical pattern, possibly by a mechanism similar to that producing "spinal shock." Surgical intervention in such cases should be limited to exploration unless complete interruption of continuity is found; exploration should be delayed 2 or 3 mos. if the wound occurs in areas where the nerve is not fixed, or if the theoretical path between entrance and exit wounds does not correspond exactly to the nerve location. Loss of function does not indicate that a nerve has been severed.

This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit: