An experimental cerebral missile injury model in primates

Abstract

✓ An experimental model of cerebral missile injury in rhesus monkeys is described. The main objective was to create a “clean” wound devoid of bleeding from major vessels and complications due to bone fragments. There was a correlation between the wounding energy and the physiological signs, although we underestimated the actual energy level. After the right parietooccipital to right frontal injury, there was bradycardia, changes in blood pressure, and, in high-energy wounds, a marked alteration in respiration. This suggests that the missile's energy produces direct brain-stem damage, the extent of which can be related to the wounding energy.