A 17-year-old boy presents in the Emergency Room with an anterior entry gunshot wound through the manubriosternal joint (sternal angle). If the bullet passed directly posterior, it most likely would lodge in which of the following vertebral bodies?

In the event that the bullet has passed directly from the sternal angle to the back, it is more likely to have lodged in the body of the thoracic vertebra 4 (T4).

Explanation:

The options for this question are:

A. T4

B. T6

C. T8

D. T10

E. T12

The sternal angle, also called Louis's angle, is a point that serves as an anatomical reference in the human body and serves to count the costal arches, intercostal and intervertebral spaces. Its posterior relationship coincides exactly with the fourth thoracic vertebra, or T4.

Assuming that the bullet - which entered through the sternal angle - was strong enough to follow a linear path without deviating, most likely it has impacted and lodged in the body of T4.

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