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Hyperventilation via a respirator can keep brain cells from starving of oxygen.A concentrated sugar solution can be given to draw fluid out of the brain.Steroids can be given to reduce swelling.Giffords' doctors put her into a medically induced coma.Giffords' doctors removed a section of her skull.This swelling, Flamm says, continues for about five days - and usually is worst on the third day after the injury. 'Then you get collateral death of tissues surrounding the bullet wound itself.' If the pressure from the swelling reaches the arterial blood pressure, you no longer get blood flow to the brain and the brain is starved of blood,' Black says. 'The problem with swelling in the brain is it is inside the skull, a closed cavity.

Such swelling can kill even more brain cells than those destroyed by the original injury. The biggest issue facing Giffords is that she has suffered what Flamm calls 'sort of the ultimate traumatic brain injury.'īrain tissues bruised by the force of the bullet continue to swell for days after the original injury. It now appears that Giffords can indeed move the right side of her body, although the extent to which she is able to do this remains unclear. If she is not moving her right side, that makes it hard to imagine good recovery.' 'But I don't know whether this injury means she is paralyzed on the right side: That is a very important issue. 'The fact that she is being described as able to follow commands, when they lighten up on her medications, that is encouraging,' Flamm says. Giffords' neurosurgeon, Michael Lemole, MD, says his patient is able to understand simple commands - such as 'Show me two fingers,' and 'Wiggle your toes' - and to perform these tasks. About 90% of people shot in the head do not survive, David Langer says.īut there is much reason for hope in Giffords' case. That almost certainly would have done far more damage, Black notes. The bullet did not pass from the left side of the brain to the right side of the brain. 'Based on those comments, that is a positive side for the congresswoman.' 'The physicians in Arizona indicated that the wound was away from these critical structures,' Black says. All of these functions are at risk, notes Keith L. That part of the brain controls vision, language, and the ability to move the right side of the body. What is known is that a 9 mm bullet fired point-blank at the left rear of her head passed through the brain and exited the left front of her head near her left eye. The precise nature of Giffords' wound - exactly which brain structures were destroyed - has not been made public.

What part of Gabrielle Giffords' brain was injured? He has worked with many disaster victims, including those involved in Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Alan Manevitz, MD, a family psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.David Langer, the director of cerebrovascular research at Cushing Neuroscience Institute in Great Neck, N.Y.Mark Brooks, PhD, a neuropsychologist at Glancy Rehabilitation Hospital in Duluth, Ga.Nina Zeldis, PhD, a specialist in rehabilitation medicine, formerly of Tel Aviv University in Israel, now in private practice.Black, MD, professor and chairman of the department of neurosurgery and director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Flamm, MD, professor and chairman of the department of neurological surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York. None of these experts is treating Giffords, and none has access to her medical records. We also consulted experts in assessment and rehabilitation of patients with brain injuries. To answer these and other questions, WebMD consulted prominent medical experts with experience in dealing with brain injuries, including gunshot wounds. How is this possible? What can surgeons do? What are Giffords' chances of recovery - and what will recovery mean? Gabrielle Giffords has survived a point-blank gunshot wound to the head. The dateline will reflect the most recent update.

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Editors' note: WebMD will periodically update this FAQ as more information becomes available.

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