Delayed presentation of an unusual transpharyngeal penetrating neck injury by a wooden stick: a case report

ABSTRACT

Penetrating neck trauma is a horrifying injury. Patients may present with sudden death, or life threatening injuries such as catastrophic haemorrhage, major vessel injury, injuries to the respiratory or digestive tract, neurological deficits, or bony injuries of the cervical spine. Other less life threatening symptoms may be associated with such injuries. We present here a case report of a 2-year-old child who sustained a transpharyngeal penetrating neck injury that occurred while playing with a wooden stick. He presented one month later with an abscess in the posterior triangle of the neck.