ABSTRACT
In all head and neck bullet injuries, treatment has to be individualized, as there is no universal protocol for all cases. Five important steps of management should be taken: securing airways, hemorrhage control, recognizing other injuries, foreign body removal when necessary, and repair of facial wounds. In this report, the case of a 28-year-old male patient will be presented and discussed. The patient was referred from a surgery clinic to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) outpatient clinic complaining of right neck pain, throat pain, and foreign body sensation in the throat for 2 months following a firearm injury to his face. The entry wound was observed on the left alar cartilage of his nose, which was almost healed and had left a scar. A sinus computed tomography scan showed a bullet in the right parapharyngeal space about 3 mm in front of the first vertebral body. The bullet was successfully removed using a trans-nasal endoscopic approach with the support of an image-guided navigational system and frequent fluoroscopy. These 2 methods help to replace the old traditional open approaches.
