External airway injury resulting in insidious life-threatening complications

Abstract

Acute external laryngotracheal injuries constitute one of the most urgent conditions of the field of otolaryngology. In such cases, immediate decision-making and intervention are imperative to prevent possible detrimental consequences. The situation is even more serious if the wounded is of the pediatric age group. In this report, we present a 7-year old boy with a blunt trauma to the anterior neck, which resulted in fractures of the thyroid and cricoid cartilages and dissection of the trachea with insidious onset of retropharyngeal air trapping and pneumomediastium. After securing the airway by emergent tracheotomy, appropriate reconstruction of the injured larynx was performed under elective conditions. Unexpected serious complications like acute retropharyngeal emphysema and pneumomediastinum in a patient of pediatric age group makes our case extraordinary.

Keywords

• laryngotracheal injury
• pediatric
• retropharyngeal emphysema
• pneumomediastinum