Injuries to vessels of neck

A personal experience at the American University Medical Center with vascular neck injuries occurring between May and December 1976 is reported. Five unusual cases are presented and discussed, their ages ranging between 10 and 25 years. The causative agent was shrapnel in four and bullet in one. Four of the five cases had multiple associated injuries. The vessels involved were the carotid artery with internal jugular vein in two cases, the subclavian vein in one, the superior thyroid artery in one, and the carotid and vertebral arteries in one. The treatment consisted of a combined cervico-thoracic approach in two cases, a claviculectomy in one, suture-ligation and aneurysmectomy in four and venous graft to the artery in one. The complications consisted of postoperative bleeding in one case, partial facial nerve paresis in another, and superficial wound infection in a third. No deaths occurred among the five complicated cases presented.