Abstract

We report the results of a clinical study of female patients sustaining gunshot wounds to a breast. Thirteen homicides were reviewed by the Fulton County Medical Examiner. A prospective series of patients treated by the Grady Memorial Hospital Trauma Service included eight additional cases. Ten (48%) of the combined series of 21 patients had significant intra-abdominal injury; of these, five (24%) had injuries confined to the abdomen as a result of a missile striking a breast. A wound pattern consisting of a superior breast entrance wound, an inferior breast exit wound, and an inframammary thoracoabdominal reentry wound was noted in five patients, four of whom had intra-abdominal injuries and three only intra-abdominal injuries. Careful examination for this wound pattern should alert the clinician to the possibility of intraabdominal injury. One should anticipate a 50% incidence of intra-abdominal injury in female patients sustaining gunshot wounds to a breast.