Penetrating Neck Injuries Podcast Por capa

Penetrating Neck Injuries

Penetrating Neck Injuries

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 Penetrating neck injuries in children are rare—but when they happen, the stakes are high. In this episode of PEM Currents: The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Podcast, we explore the clinical pearls behind “no-zone” management, how to distinguish hard and soft signs, when to image versus operate, and why airway always comes first. Get ready for a focused, evidence-based deep dive into pediatric neck trauma. Learning Objectives Understand the shift from zone-based to “no-zone” management in pediatric penetrating neck injuries and describe the rationale behind this transition.Apply ATLS principles to the initial assessment and stabilization of children with penetrating neck injuries, including decisions regarding imaging and airway management.Evaluate clinical findings to determine the need for operative intervention versus observation in stable pediatric patients with soft versus hard signs of vascular or aerodigestive injury. Connect with Brad Sobolewski PEMBlog: PEMBlog.comBlue Sky: @bradsoboX (Twitter): @PEMTweetsInstagram: Brad SobolewskiMastodon: @bradsobo@med-mastodon.com References Stone ME Jr, Christensen P, Craig S, Rosengart M. Management of penetrating neck injury in children: A review of the National Trauma Data Bank. Red Cross Annals. 2017;32(4):171–177. doi:10.1016/j.rcsann.2017.04.003 Callcut RA, Inaba K. Penetrating neck injuries: Initial evaluation and management. UpToDate. Waltham, MA: UpToDate Inc. [Accessed June 24, 2025]. Available from: https://www.uptodate.com Transcript Note: This transcript was partially completed with the use of the Descript AI and the Chat GPT 4o AI Welcome to PEM Currents: The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Podcast. As always, I’m your host, Brad Sobolewski, and in this episode we are diving into a high-stakes but fortunately rare topic in pediatric trauma — penetrating neck injuries. Now these injuries make up less than 1% of all pediatric trauma, but when they occur, they demand precision and vigilance in terms of diagnosis and management. As you know, the neck packs some vital organs, vessels, the airway, esophagus, and nerves into a tiny little area, so even a seemingly minor wound can injure multiple structures. Now you remember — way back when — where you learned about the zones of the neck, and this is the traditional teaching, which chopped the neck up into three zones. You’ve got Zone I, which is the area between the clavicle and cricoid. You’ve got the subclavian arteries and vein, the carotid, and the apices of the lungs. Zone II, the cricoid to the angle of the mandible — this includes the carotids, jugulars, the vagus nerve, the trachea, and the esophagus. And then you have Zone III, which is the angle of the mandible to the base of the skull — you’ve got the distal carotid, the vertebral artery, and cranial nerves IX through XII. Now, you may recall some teaching that you got in medical school or residency where the management was dictated by which zone was injured. And admittedly, a lot of this evidence is in adults, and more penetrating trauma is seen in adults as well. But now practice is leaning towards the “no zone” approach, where imaginary lines on the skin surface are not dictating management as much as presentation, symptoms, and deciding when to go to the OR versus using CT angiography. So let’s talk about mechanisms of injury for a minute. Toddlers can injure their neck when they fall with something in their mouth, like pencils or chopsticks. School-age kids may take a bike handlebar to the neck, or they’re trying to run or jump over a fence and they get impaled on that — that sounds painful. Adolescents, unfortunately, are subject to assaults, stabbings, and gunshot wounds, as well as clothesline-type injuries or other high-velocity injury where the neck is injured as they’re riding a bike. So low-velocity mechanisms dominate pediatric penetrating neck injuries. Force matters, because depth and tissue cavitation decide the overall injury pattern. In terms of assessing the patient with a penetrating neck injury, it all starts with the ABCs. Is the patient’s airway patent? Are they protecting and maintaining it? Look for signs such as hoarseness, stridor, aphonia (they can’t talk at all), a bubbling wound, or an expanding hematoma. For breathing, patients should be breathing comfortably with no distress. Look for any signs of asymmetry on chest rise, feeling of crepitus or subcutaneous air, or diminished breath sounds — obviously the latter two indicating a pneumothorax or even hemothorax. For circulation, if the wound is bleeding, apply direct pressure. Some surgeons will use a Foley balloon tamponade method if they need to stop bleeding before going to the operating room. Patients will need large bore IVs and fluids — and especially blood product resuscitation. Only immobilize the C-spine if a patient has neurologic deficits or a high injury mechanism. Think — somebody that was ...
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