Stunning device as a suicide weapon.

Thirteen patients who had attempted suicide with the stunning device, were treated over a time span of eleven years. Five of them died. The survivors made a satisfactory recovery with minor neurological sequelae only. The characteristics of this type of brain injury are: high incidence of infection (all developed meningitis and six of them brain abscesses), with prevalence of gram negative animal strains and technical difficulties in removing foreign bodies from the deeper part of the missile track.