Respiratory Pathway and Swallowing Management in a Patient With Epiglottis Loss After Life-Threatening Penetrating Laryngeal Trauma

Abstract

Laryngeal trauma is a rare but potentially life-threatening injury. Damage to larynx structures may occur in forms of a simple contusion, fractures of the laryngeal cartilage, and may even result in laryngotracheal disjunction depending on the ossification level of the larynx and the severity of the trauma. However, in almost all cases, damaged laryngeal tissue is also observed in the trauma area. Because thyroid cartilage protects the endolaryngeal tissues like a shield against trauma. Epiglottis prevents escape of the food to respiratory tract and directs food to digestive system. In this article, a case of knife attack resulted in deep neck incision with loss of epiglottis in the incision area, the surgical operation, and the postoperative recovery period which had a clinical significance due to loss of epiglottis were presented. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first laryngeal trauma case with loss of epiglottis.