Active Retropharyngeal Hemorrhage from an Acute Thyrocervical Artery Injury: A Rare Complication of Hyperextension Cervical Spine Injury

Sudden Asphyxia Caused by Retropharyngeal Hematoma after Blunt Thyrocervical Artery Injury

“…Therefore, contrastenhanced CT (CT angiography) has become widely used as a screening method for determining blunt cervical artery injuries (13). In blunt thyrocervical artery injuries, as in the above-mentioned case and in the present case, contrastenhanced CT scan revealed extravasation of the contrast agent from the injured vessels (9). Simultaneously, the extent of hematoma progression and the cervical fractures were recognized accurately.…”

“…In contrast, there are few reports of airway obstruction in non-displaced cervical spine injury caused by vigorous hemorrhage from blunt cervical artery injury (9,11,12).…”

“…Most such patients sustain injuries in motor vehicle accidents or a fall (2-9). The initial symptoms of airway obstruction include dyspnea, stridor, hoarseness, dysphagia, painful swallowing, neck pain, and neck swelling (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9). Because evaluating the size of the retropharyngeal hematoma from the outside of the body is difficult, the quickest and easiest way to diagnose this condition is to obtain a lateral cervical spine plain radiograph (10).…”

Traumatic Retropharyngeal Hematoma following Cervical Vascular Injury: A Case Report

“… 4 6 7 8) Despite advancement in endovascular embolization of intracranial aneurysmal lesion, thoracic and abdominal traumatic lesion, very few cases have been reported embolization as the treatment option of retropharyngeal hematoma. 1 2) The choice between traditional surgical approach or endovascular approach depends on the clinical status of the patient, complexity and approachability of the lesion, availability of interventionist, and associated injury including esophagus, trachea, spinal structures. 2) Authors chose endovascular approach because the patient was stable without any adjacent organ injury, risk of missing bleeding focus in small surgical window was high, extent of hematoma was too great vertically for surgical approach.…”

Surgical Treatment of a Life-Threatening Large Retropharyngeal Hematoma after Minor Trauma : Two Case Reports and a Literature Review

“…Typically, retropharyngeal hematomas have been reported to be related with anticoagulant therapy, iatrogenic injury, infections, foreign body ingestion, and vascular lesions 1 4 5 6 14 16 18 20) . Although major trauma, such as cervical spinal fracture, has caused retropharyngeal hematomas 6 10 17) , minor trauma is rarely related with a large retropharyngeal hematoma, and only a few cases of anterior longitudinal ligament (ALL) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20) injury related with retropharyngeal hematoma without fracture have previously been reported 7 9 12 13 15) .…”