Multidisciplinary Rescue Airway Management in a Self-Inflicted Penetrating Neck Injury: A Case Report

Description

Ana Rita Góis, Kateryna Samalyuk, and Fátima Costa report an emergency airway rescue in a 2025 case paper. A man in his fifties arrived with self-inflicted stab wounds to the neck. The cuts had severed the voice box above the vocal cords and partly cut the throat behind it. Such injuries are rare and often fatal, since breathing and swallowing paths are both torn.

The first hospital was a small one without a full trauma service. Staff secured his airway by passing a breathing tube straight through the open neck wound. He was then moved to a major trauma center for urgent repair. Specialists in anesthesia, intensive care, general surgery, and ear, nose, and throat care worked as one team. He recovered well. The authors stress flexible airway plans and team care in such cases.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12794356