Impalement injuries of the oropharynx in children

Abstract

Etarogba David and Gweke Gana Ubiovo

Impalement injuries of the oropharynx are especially common in children. They may be innocuous injuries but can present with life threatening sequele which range from neurologic to non-neurologic sequele. Herein, we report the first of this type of injury from Nigeria and it was a 2 year old female child who presented with a rod like metallic object embedded in her oropharynx following a fall on the same object. She had surgical removal of the foreign object with seeming uneventful recovery but experienced severe hemorrhage in the 12th postoperative hour that lead to her demise. The purpose of this report is to highlight this type of injury even in our environment and to emphasize that a high index of suspicion is required in assessing the extent of injury in these patients in order to institute timely and appropriate treatment to avoid life threatening sequele.