-
- A Ahmed.
- Department of Surgery, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria.
- S Afr J Surg. 2009 Aug 1;47(3):80, 82-5.
BackgroundThe most appropriate management of penetrating neck injury (PNI) remains controversial. This study was conducted to determine the accuracy and safety of physical examination as the basis of selective observational management of PNI at our institution.MethodsThe study was conducted between 1991 and 2006. Patients whose injuries penetrated platysma were included. Following resuscitation, physical signs were utilised to select patients for exploration or observation. Investigations were based on physical signs which, with details of injured structures, treatments and outcomes, were recorded.ResultsThere were 225 patients of whom 209 (93.0%) were men. Their mean age was 28 years. The majority (74.2%) of cases were stab wounds, and the balance (25.8%) were gunshot injuries. In 37.8% and 27.6% of patients, injuries were sustained during armed civilian conflicts and robberies, respectively. Patients with no signs of significant injuries (37.8%) were treated by observation. Overall, 52.4% underwent neck exploration; injuries requiring repair were found in 87.3% of these patients. Physical signs as a basis of detecting significant injury had a sensitivity of 97.2% and specificity of 87.4%. Overall mortality was 4.0%.ConclusionPhysical examination can accurately select patients with PNI who can be safely managed by observation. Physical signs can also identify patients who require further diagnostic evaluations.
Notes
Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
- Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as
*italics*
,_underline_
or**bold**
. - Superscript can be denoted by
<sup>text</sup>
and subscript<sub>text</sub>
. - Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines
1. 2. 3.
, hyphens-
or asterisks*
. - Links can be included with:
[my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
- Images can be included with:
![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
- For footnotes use
[^1](This is a footnote.)
inline. - Or use an inline reference
[^1]
to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document[^1]: This is a long footnote.
.