Outcomes and Trauma Pattern in Penetrating Neck Injuries

It is an observational descriptive, retrospective study. The study will be conducted in two centers: the Emergency and accident unit and Head and neck surgical unit Manchester Royal infirmary, Manchester, United Kingdom and Trauma unit and Otolaryngology department Assiut university Hospital, Assiut, Egypt. The study will include all the patients presented to both centers with open neck trauma in duration between April 2018 and October 2020. The following items recorded: gender, age, type of trauma (whether it is homicidal, suicidal, accidental trauma), time of the day the patients presented, Previous philological disorder in patients with suicidal types of trauma, number of neck wounds, site of the wounds ( in relation to the zones of the neck), size of each wound in centimeter, whether the wounds are deep or superficial to platysma, length of stay in the hospital, , injuries to any neck structures injuries in other parts of the body, involvement of other teams in management of the patent and type of involvement. Also the need of airway support (either intubation or tracheostomy), immediate and long term complications of the injury and if the patients needed neck exploration or just suturing of the wounds under local anesthesia.

Data of the patients who needed exploration will be reviewed to detect finding in neck exploration and try to find out the criteria of the patients who needed neck exploration and put a clear protocol for management.

The included patients will be categorized into 3 groups according to type of trauma (suicidal, homicidal or accidental) all the recorded data will be compared to detect the outcomes in each type of trauma and if there is a specific pattern of trauma in each category.

The study will be conducted after obtaining an institutional review board (IRB) approval from the committee of medical ethics, faculty of medicine, Assiut University. The study and all interventions and surgical procedures within it were done by scientifically qualified and trained personnel. The is no additional risk for participating in the study as it is a descriptive study