Anesthetic management of penetrating neck injury patient with embedded knife -A case report-

Abstract

Penetrating neck injuries can be a fatal event and they are difficult to manage for both surgeons and anesthesiologists. So, adequate preoperative evaluation is important to improve the patients' outcomes, but this can not be done for hemodynamically unstable or uncooperative patient. Here we present our clinical experience with a patient with a penetrating neck injury and who was hemodynamically stable, but she was uncooperative and the knife was still embedded in her neck. The surgical exploration and bronchoscopic examination were successfully done under monitored anesthesia care. © the Korean Society of Anesthesiologists, 2012.