Ann Clin Otolaryngol | Volume 3, Issue 1 | Case Report | Open Access
Azeem Mohiyuddin SM, Maruvala S, Mohammadi K, Induvarsha G, Harshitha N, Sumanth KR
Department of ENT & Head and Neck Surgery, Sri Devaraj Urs Medical College, India
*Correspondance to: Azeem Mohiyuddin SM
Fulltext PDFSmall high velocity flying objects often cause penetrating injuries. Such injuries to neck are an emergency and may present with vascular injuries, bleeding or edema in the airway and damage to laryngeal or tracheal cartilages. We are reporting a case of missile (high velocity metallic flying object) injury to neck, where the thyroid cartilage was penetrated and patient had aspirated the missile into right bronchus. The patient had hoarseness of voice due to submucosal hematoma in larynx and blood stained spittoons. The foreign body in right bronchus at the opening of middle lobe medial segment was removed by rigid bronchoscopy and the penetrating injury in the neck was explored. Hemostasis secured and the wound was sutured after povidone iodine irrigation. The patient had uneventful recovery and the hoarseness of voice improved. This case report highlights that penetrating neck injuries by small missiles can be misleading as the entry wound is often small. A nonmetallic foreign body can be missed, leading to complications later. In these patients injury to blood vessels and airway framework should always be ruled out. A missing foreign body in such cases must be looked for in the airway. This case was unusual as the metallic foreign body had penetrated the larynx and was aspirated into the right bronchus without any history of choking at the time of injury.
Azeem Mohiyuddin SM, Maruvala S, Mohammadi K, Induvarsha G, Harshitha N, Sumanth KR. Penetrating Neck Injury with Aspiration of the Missile: A Case Report. Ann Clin Otolaryngol. 2018; 3(1): 1031.