Innocuous wound with occult central vascular injury: A case report

Penetrating trauma is one of the most common cause of occult vascular injury, especially in low velocity penetrating injury. This is usually in pretext of an innocuous looking small external wound. It is important for clinician to have high index of suspicion for such types of injuries, as the clinical examination with presenting signs and symptoms may be deceptive. Radiological evaluation is of paramount importance and essential to rule out any occult vascular insult. Conventional open surgical exploration is the gold standard for vascular injuries in neck. Minimal invasive endovascular stenting has selective role based on zone of neck, mechanism of injury, hemodynamic stability, neurological status and resource availability at treating centre. Early diagnosis and referral to an appropriate higher centre, preferably a trauma centre with expertise in handling major vascular injuries, improve the outcome. We present a case report of small innocuous looking external wound harbouring major central vessel injury underneath following low-velocity penetrating injury.