Successful management of asymptomatic penetrating carotid artery injury.

ABSTRACT

A 30-year-old male sustained a gunshot wound (GSW) in zone II of the left side of his neck. Initially, an inlet wound had an active bleeding which stopped later. When he arrived at our hospital, his vital signs had stabilized and the examination showed no abnormality in the aerodigestive tract and normal focal signs of hemispheric function. There was only a positive sign in paresthesia at the lateral aspect of his left shoulder and upper arm. He had undergone several investigations and then, was treated successfully by repairing his left carotid artery with a reversed saphenous vein graft. To our knowledge, this is a rare case of asymptomatic penetrating carotid artery injury. In this paper, we also reviewed literatures discussing about investigations and controversial issues in the management of a zone II penetrating neck injury.