What are the specific effects of brain injury based on location in the brain?

Question

I read that the majority of gunshot wounds to the head actually survive. I used to take anatomy and this has really got me thinking. I figure through both temples, or the circle of willis or brain stem will probably end everthing right there. But where in the head can you reliably survive a gsw, and where does it reliably cause 'brain death' but not actually cardiac death?

Answer 1

Boy, this is a complex question.  If you  are talking about high-velocity bullets- e.g. rifle, I have only seen a couple. One went through the helmet, through the skull, appears to have circled the skull, then eventually down into the neck.  We could see an entry wound, no exit wound, and no bullet in the head.  Patient's complaint was a headache ( seems reasonable) and every time he bent his neck, he got this "funny tingle" down his spine ( Lhermitte's sign) So we operated his neck to remove the bullet.

The other was the only survivor of a platoon in Vietnam, and the reason they did not finish him off is that he already had a hole in the back of his head.  Went straight down the middle, between the hemispheres, somehow missed the big veins, and out. He was neurologically normal.  Went back to Vietnam because he had a score to settle.  MOST high velocity GSW to the brain die.  Big, slow bullets like a .45 are hard to survive.  Low velocity projectiles- pistol, .22 shorts, and the like die also, but it depends on bullet placement, fragmentation, lots of things.  

Now, I am a little worried about your question.

It sounds like you may be planning something unwise, and I don't want to help you do something foolish.   Besides, this would really take a textbook to answer in detail.