Thyrohyoid membrane transection caused by a stab injury

Dongsub Noh; Kwang Hee Yeo; Hyun Min Cho; Chan Yong Park

doi:10.1016/j.tcr.2017.10.013

Thyrohyoid membrane transection caused by a stab injury

Trauma Case Rep. 2017 Nov 10:12:31-33. doi: 10.1016/j.tcr.2017.10.013. eCollection 2017 Dec.

Authors

Dongsub Noh^{1

2}, Kwang Hee Yeo¹, Hyun Min Cho¹, Chan Yong Park¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Background: The thyrohyoid membrane is located between the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage. Transection of the thyrohyoid membrane can be fatal.

Case presentation: A 54-year-old man presented to the emergency room after attempting to commit suicide by cutting his neck. An endotracheal tube was inserted through the thyrohyoid membrane, which had been cut almost completely. After a tracheostomy, temporary wound closure was performed due to coagulopathy caused by hemorrhagic shock. Several hours later, a hyoidothyroidopexy was performed. Damage control surgery was applied to this patient's neck injury. The tracheostomy tube was removed postoperatively and he was discharged without complications.

Conclusion: Damage control surgery could be an option for airway injury with blood clotting problems due to massive bleeding after securing a patent airway.

Keywords: Damage control surgery; Hyoidothyroidopexy; Temporary wound closure; Thyrohyoid membrane transection.

Publication types

Case Reports