Management of Laryngotracheal Trauma: A Five-Year Single Institution Experience

Introduction: laryngotracheal trauma is a rare life-threatening emergency that requires early identification and immediate intervention. here, we present 26 patients with laryngotracheal trauma from a tertiary hospital in india. the aim was to describe the clinical presentation and management of laryngotracheal trauma patients. materials and methods: this was a retrospective study of laryngotracheal trauma patients treated between january 2011 and march 2016. patients who presented with a breach in the laryngotracheal framework were included, while those who had penetrating neck injuries superficial to strap muscles/platysma, burn injuries, caustic ingestion, or endotracheal injuries were excluded from the study. results: of 253 patients with neck injury, 26 (23 adults, three children; 21 males, five females; age range, 5-60 years) presented with a breach in the laryngotracheal framework (15 blunt neck-trauma patients and 11 penetrating neck-trauma patients). the most common cause of neck injury was road traffic accidents, seen in 12 patients (46.2%). computed tomography (ct) was performed in all blunt trauma cases and in four patients with penetrating trauma. all penetrating trauma patients underwent neck exploration. twelve blunt trauma patients (46.1%) were managed conservatively, while three (11.5%) required surgical intervention. the most common neck exploration finding noted in patients with a penetrating injury was fracture of the thyroid cartilage, which was seen in eight patients (30.8%). twenty patients (76.9%) had a normal voice, five patients (19.2%) had a hoarse voice, and one patient (3.8%) had a breathy voice post treatment. conclusion: early intervention of laryngotracheal trauma is crucial. the role of a ct scan is essential in decision making in blunt trauma cases.