Anesthetic management of a case of suicidal cut throat injury

Traumatic airway injuries may be rare, but these can be difficult to manage as there is a chance of aspiration of blood and risk of hypoxia as happened in our case. We present a case of suicidal cut throat injury in a 16 year old male. Tracheal intubation was initially done directly through the tracheal cut; and tracheostomy with repair of wound followed later on. The patient was electively ventilated for 12 hours post operatively and recovered completely. Mortality and late complications in these patients are high and may be related to delay in definitive treatment