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Perforating injury of the neck and vertebral artery trauma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

M. L. Farrell  and
R. F. Gray
M. L. Farrell*
Affiliation:
Cambridge
R. F. Gray
Affiliation:
Cambridge
*
Dr M. L. Farrell, ENT Registrar, Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, NSW 2065, Australia
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Abstract

A 10-year-old schoolboy presented with a penetrating wound to the neck after a children's slide accident. A CT scan and endoscopy showed a traumatic oesophageal-cutaneous fistula. Neurologically the child deteriorated over a period of 34 hours and finally succumbed to a respiratory arrest.

Post-mortem findings showed a hypoplastic right vertebral artery. In the left suboccipital triangle a venous clot had blocked the dominant artery thus leading to cerebellar and brainstem infarction.

This extraluminal compression leading to obstruction of an otherwise non traumatized vertebral artery is unique in the literature.

Keywords

NeckWounds, penetratingVertebral artery
Type
Clinical Records
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 106 , Issue 10 , October 1992 , pp. 925 - 928
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1992

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