Neck injuries

Abstract

Introduction and objective: Neck injuries are of great clinical interest because they can induce very significant consequences if not handled properly and can even lead to death. The aim of our study was to analyse external deep cervical trauma in our hospital.

Material and methods: A retrospective study of all external deep neck injuries seen in a tertiary hospital over the course of 24 years that involved changes in structures related to otolaryngology.

Results: Twenty patients were included in our study. From all the injuries, 45% were secondary to traffic accidents, 27% from assault with a knife and 23% from attempted suicide. The injuries were open in 15 (68%) cases and closed in 7 (32%). The most common symptom was bleeding (55%), followed by respiratory disorders (23%). On examination, the most frequent sign was the appearance of subcutaneous emphysema (27%). Only 50% of patients underwent imaging before treatment, most often a neck CT (27%). 59% of patients needed surgery, with 6 patients (27%) requiring a tracheotomy. Two of them died (9%) and 6 suffered permanent complications.

Conclusions: Cervical injuries involving ENT structures are rare in our environment, with the most common cause being traffic accidents. It is important to have standardised guidelines for the management of these patients, because they can often developed severe complications or even die if not treated properly very rapidly.