RESUMO
Objective: To share experience of presentation and management of carotid artery injuries in tertiary care Hospitals Rawalpindi, Lahore and Quetta
Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive study
Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi Lahore and Quetta, from Jun 2005 to Jul 2014
Material and Methods: The data of demography, mode of presentation, associated injuries and surgical procedures performed in the patients with penetrating neck injuries were collected and analyzed descriptively
Results: All 32 patients were male. Age ranged from 18 to 52 years [mean: 30.7 +/- 7.1 years]. Time of presentation to vascular surgeon ranged from 1 to 52 hours [mean: 4.4 +/- 2.3 hours]. Sixteen cases [50 Percent] resulted from shrapnel injuries. Thirteen patients [40.6 Percent] had bullet injuries and in three [9.3 Percent], stab wounds. In only 6 cases [18.7 Percent] carotid injury was confirmed on angiography preoperatively. Common carotid artery [CCA] was the most frequently injured artery in 15 cases [46.8 Percent]. There were 6 cases [18.7 Percent] of External carotid artery [ECA], 4 [12.5 Percent] cases of internal carotid artery [ICA] and 1 case [3.1 Percent] of injury to the carotid bifurcation. Two cases [6.2 Percent] had both ICA and ECA injuries. Four patients [12.5 Percent] had no carotid artery injury on surgical exploration
Conclusion: Surgical exploration of neck penetrating injuries on the basis of hard signs and platysmal penetration was found a safe procedure especially in patients who had history of hemodynamic instability