Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords remains in intensive care following surgery at the University of Arizona Hospital for a gunshot wound to the head at close range. 
 
 Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor of FoxNews.com, said surviving a gunshot wound to the head is rare, but not unheard of – and Giffords is in for a long fight. 
 
 Alvarez said the survival rate of a gunshot wound to the head is about 5 percent – and 3 percent of those who do survive will always have a neurological deficiency, such as memory loss or a lack or motor skills. 
 
 “It all depends on where the bullet goes,” he said. “Your best chance of survival is from front to back, if you get shot side to side, the survival rate is less, and it all depends on the damage the brain has.” 
 
 Giffords’ friend, state Sen. Linda Lopez, confirmed the bullet entered Giffords’ head at her temple and exited through her forehead. Lopez said Giffords was responding to commands before surgery but is not sure what Giffords' long-term prognosis is. 
 
 “If the bullet goes through both hemispheres and leans toward the base of skull, that is where most of the vascular tissues are, and that can be a deadly result,” Alvarez said. “If the bullet goes through both hemispheres, but there is a clean exit wound, the patient can be lucky and there might not be any significant damage. Of course, the best prognosis is when the bullet affects only one hemisphere. Nonetheless, any gunshot wound to the head is going to leave residual side effects.” 
 
 Alvarez said the next three to four days is considered the most critical for Giffords, and recovery could take years to achieve. 
 
 “Doctors carefully opened the skull and looked for any type of bleeding and then cauterized blood vessels,” Alvarez said. “Patients are kept under anesthesia for three to four days to monitor brain swelling, which is one of the complications of this surgery." 
 
 Alvarez pointed to the story of a British soldier who survived a gunshot wound to the brain but learned to walk and talk again and in October 2010 was quoted in the The Sun as saying, “They say I’m a walking miracle.” 
 
 The soldier, Liam Brentley, was shot near the ear, and the bullet came out the other side of his head, pinging a wall, according to the U.K. newspaper. 
 
 Brentley is deaf in one ear and has some memory loss. ||||| Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is in critical condition after being shot in the head on Saturday morning. "I am very optimistic about her recovery," said a doctor at the University Medical Center in Tucson, while acknowledging that the bullet went through her brain. In 2007, Michelle Tsai explained how one might survive a gunshot to the head. The article is reprinted below. 
 
 A sheriff's deputy in Wisconsin killed his ex-girlfriend and five others at a house party on Sunday, then fled. When he was caught hours later, he used his .40-caliber Glock pistol to commit suicide—shooting himself twice from under the chin, and then once through the right side of his head. How'd he manage to shoot himself in the head three times? 
 
 He kept missing the brain. A gunshot to the head isn't always fatal; when the gun is aimed upward from the chin, the recoil can angle the muzzle toward the face. In this case, the bullet travels through the mouth and nose instead of back into the head, where the brain lies. The victim of such a wound would suffer serious injuries to the face; he might also suffocate if the bullet hit part of his nose, or if bits of flesh block the breathing pathway. But the pain isn't necessarily excruciating; survivors say it's like being punched or kicked in the face. A victim might even remain alert enough to use his hands, or, in the case of the sheriff's deputy, to reposition his gun and try again. 
 
 The severity of a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head depends on a few factors. The larger the bullet, the more damage, since the projectile destroys any tissue in its path. Hollow-point bullets that shatter are especially dangerous, as the fragments can spread into a larger swath of brain tissue. 
 
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 But where the bullet goes is most important: the farther from the center of the brain, the greater the chance of survival. If a bullet grazes the tip of one of the lobes of the brain, the patient will probably live with proper medical treatment. If a bullet enters just one hemisphere, it's still possible to make a reasonable recovery. Someone who took a shot just to the front of the brain might suffer personality changes, like Phineas Gage, the 19th-century railroad worker who became obstinate and profane after an accident. A patient with a wound to the side of the head usually arrives at the hospital unconscious but breathing. 
 
 The gravest bullet trajectories cross from one side of the head to the other, striking the center of the brain along the way. Here lie the brain stem, the diencephalon, and other structures that together govern basic life functions such as breathing, the heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature. A bullet through the mouth, Hitler-style, can kill immediately if it strikes the brain stem. 
 
 Whatever the angle, gunshot wounds to the head are usually fatal. According to unpublished data from the University of Maryland, of 264 such victims from 2000, all but 29 died on the spot. Of the 27 who were accounted for, only 18 made it into an operating room. Eight survived with significant disabilities; 10 had a good recovery. 
 
 Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer . 
 
 Explainer thanks Bizhan Aarabi of the University of Maryland Medical Center, Robert Levine of the University of Texas School of Medicine at Houston, and Dave Ross of Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo. 
 
 Like Slate and the Explainer on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. 
 
 Like This Story ||||| FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2011 file photo, Dr. Peter Rhee, Trauma and Critical Care Emergency Surgery doctor at University Medical Center, describes in more detail the gunshot wound Rep. Gabrielle Giffords,... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2011 file photo, emergency personnel and Daniel Hernandez, an intern for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, second right, move Giffords after she was shot in the head outside a shopping... (Associated Press) 
 
 Few people who take a bullet to the brain _ just 10 percent _ survive such a devastating wound. 
 
 Yet doctors say the critically injured congresswoman has been making steady progress each day since an attempted assassination Saturday. 
 
 Giffords is moving both legs and both arms, has opened both eyes and is responding to friends and family, doctors said Thursday. They've helped her sit up and dangle her legs from the bed, and she is able to lift her legs on command. 
 
 With her closest friends from Congress holding her hand Wednesday evening, Giffords opened her left eye and tried to focus on loved ones for the first time. 
 
 "It was raw courage. It was raw strength. It was so beautiful and so moving," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. "She wanted us to know that she was with us a hundred percent and understood everything we were saying." 
 
 Giffords' neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Lemole, called it "a major milestone," and said the congresswoman was clearly responding to the gathering of friends and family. 
 
 After five days of pushing for caution, Lemole acknowledged: "We're wise to acknowledge miracles." 
 
 The next milestone will be removing her breathing tube, and perhaps have her sit in a chair on Friday, said Dr. Peter Rhee, trauma chief at University Medical Center, who has treated soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
 
 It's a far cry from Saturday when a shocked nation braced for the worst for the 40-year-old Arizona congresswoman. Several news outlets erroneously declared her dead soon after the shooting rampage that killed six. Stunned by the day's events, crowds held candlelight vigils outside the hospital and Giffords' Tucson office. 
 
 After her surgery, Dr. Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general and family friend who looked at Giffords' brain scans, gave a bleak outlook. 
 
 "With guarded optimism, I hope she will survive, but this is a very devastating wound," he said. 
 
 But as the days ticked by, doctors shared signs of improvement even as they cautioned about a long and uncertain path to recovery. There was a glimmer of hope early on: Giffords was able to squeeze a doctor's hand in the emergency room. 
 
 By Sunday, her neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Lemole said he was "cautiously optimistic" about her survival. She could follow basic commands when they briefly eased up on her sedation. 
 
 Giffords' condition was unchanged Monday, which doctors took as a good sign. There was no further brain swelling. She could raise two fingers of her left hand and even flashed a thumbs-up, doctors reported. 
 
 The following day, doctors said Giffords was breathing on her own, but still connected to a respirator as a precaution. She was also moving both arms. Doctors gave their most confident prognosis yet: She will survive. Rhee said he was "101 percent" sure she'd pull through. 
 
 "She has no right to look this good and she does," Lemole said. 
 
 As her sedation was scaled back, Giffords became more alert and moved on her own _ touching her wounds and fixing her hospital gown. She even scratched her nose, Lemole said. 
 
 The encouraging news continued when Gillibrand and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., stood in the hospital room Wednesday, talking, joking and touching their friend. 
 
 "She was rubbing our hands and gripping our hands so ... we knew she could hear and understand what we were saying and she moved her leg, and so we knew she was responding," Gillibrand said. "And the more we joked about what we were going to do, she started to open her eyes." 
 
 Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, realized the significance of the moment. "Gabby, open your eyes, open your eyes," he said, according to Gillibrand. 
 
 Said Schultz: "It felt like we were watching a miracle." 
 
 So how did Giffords survive the gunshot wound? The path of the bullet, quick and quality medical care, and a stroke of luck meant the difference between life and death, say her doctors and brain experts. 
 
 Doctors think the bullet pierced the front of Giffords' head and exited the back, slicing the left side of the brain, which controls speech abilities and muscles on the right side of the body. 
 
 Had the bullet damaged both sides of the brain or struck the brain stem, which connects to the spinal cord, the outcome would likely be worse _ extensive permanent damage, vegetative state or death. 
 
 "So far, she's passed with flying colors of each stage" of her recovery, said neurologist Dr. Marc Nuwer of the University of California, Los Angeles, who is not involved in the congresswoman's treatment. 
 
 Most gunshot victims are not that fortunate. Several years ago, a Tucson police officer was shot in the head during a chase. His heart was beating when he was rushed to University Medical Center, but doctors couldn't control the bleeding in the brain and he died, Rhee said. 
 
 When Giffords arrived at the hospital, doctors first checked to make sure she didn't have any other injuries. They took a brain scan and wheeled her to the operating room in a swift 38 minutes. 
 
 The same attack in the desert many miles away from a trauma center may have led to a different ending. 
 
 "She's just lucky in so many ways," said UCLA's Nuwer. "The breaks have been in her favor. That's not to say they'll continue to be in her favor." 
 
 It's too early to tell the extent of damage Giffords suffered, but experts say it's rare for people with gunshot wounds to the head to regain all of their abilities. Damage to the left side of the brain can result in memory loss, difficult reading and hand-eye coordination problems. Giffords' doctors have not been able to determine how well she can speak since she still has a breathing tube. 
 
 "Her full-time job now for the next year is working on her recovery and rebuilding her life around her disability whatever it may be," said Dr. Stephan Mayer, professor of clinical neurology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who has no role in Giffords' care.
– The survival rate of a gunshot wound to the head, as Arizona Rep Gabrielle Giffords suffered yesterday, is about 5%, and 3% of those who do survive carry lasting neurological deficiencies, such as loss of memory loss or motor skills, reports Fox News. The next three to four days are most critical, says a Fox News doctor. Doctors first open the skull, look for bleeding, and cauterize blood vessels. "Patients are kept under anesthesia for three to four days to monitor brain swelling, which is one of the complications of this surgery," explains the expert. If the bullet grazes the tip of one of the brain lobes, the victim has the greatest chance for survival, and a bullet through one hemisphere still offers a reasonable chance. "[T]he farther from the center of the brain, the greater the chance of survival," reported Slate in a 2007 article about a slaying in Wisconsin. "The gravest bullet trajectories cross from one side of the head to the other, striking the center of the brain along the way." Doctors said yesterday they were "optimistic" about Giffords' chances for recovery.