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The need to discuss incidents encountered during cerebral aneurysm surgery--as well as techniques and results--is increasingly accepted. Single incidents, however, do not allow for general conclusions; we wish to present 5 cases, analysis of which, we believe, is likely to elucidate the trouble of diagnosis and intraoperative decision making.

War chest wounds are very common, but wound balistic notions are not known of physicians. Different threats are being listed, and we might retain the important rate of shrapnels wounds. Concerning the bullet behavior in soft tissue, one can discern full jacketed war bullets which may tumble after a variable "neck", and non jacketed missiles which cause wound through "mushrooming" and/or fragmentation effect. Buckshot wounds obey the rule of "all or none". Body reactions, particularly the clash with a hard material like bone, may overturn everything described in soft tissues. Every kind of possible chest wounds are analyzed from a ballistic point of view. We insist on the effects of so called terrible high velocity little bullets which do not wound because of an "explosive" shock wave, but with a fragmentation effect. The treatment sums up to the advice of good common sense which has had such a good effect on our masters.

The coordinator draws conclusions on the symposium day devoted to the teams. After defining "team" he gives several thoughts on the team's work its advantages and its difficulties. During this day the teams talked about their questions and their certainties in the various fields of their work. They also discussed their hard ships and their need of psychological support which the hospital departments do not have the means to satisfy.

What is knowable concerning the lived experience and the psychopathology of patients during the border state between coma and waking? The waking up period appears divided in two parts: "apparent incommunicability" and "waking in strangeness". A pluridisciplinary follow-up seems necessary for patients beginning with the neurosurgical reanimation process.