[Complete disruption of the trachea due to blunt neck trauma--a case report]

A complete disruption of the cervical trachea due to blunt trauma is relatively rare. Because of dislocation of the disrupted trachea and/or bleeding into airway, this is a mostly fatal accident. This article reports the author's experience with the successful surgical treatment of the complete disruption of the cervical trachea. A 60-year-old man suffered from a cervical blunt trauma by traffic accident and referred to our hospital. He had a dyspnea and severe subcutaneous emphysema around neck and anterior chest wall. Urgent fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) revealed a complete disruption of the cervical trachea. After intubation under guide of FOB, he underwent an end to end anastomosis of the disrupted trachea from cervical approach. Tracheostomy was performed two months later, because of his bilateral recurrent nerve paralysis. The patient is alive and well 25 months after surgery. It should be emphasized that early diagnosis and adequate management are important to save patients with complete disruption of the trachea due to blunt trauma.