Trauma is the most common cause of mortality and morbidity in pediatric population. Caring for the injured child requires special knowledge, precise management, and scrupulous attention to details. All clinicians who are responsible for the care of a pediatric trauma patient, including pediatricians, pediatric emergency room clinicians, and trauma surgeons, must be familiar with every tenet of ...

Facial trauma is a commonly encountered presentation to emergency departments. When associated airway compromise occurs, co-existing head and neck injuries serve to produce a challenging clinical situation. We describe two patients who suffered multi-system trauma, with severe maxillofacial injuries that necessitated prompt definitive airway management and mid-face stabilisation in the pre-hosp...

A significant proportion of trauma patients require tracheostomy during intensive care unit stay. The timing of this procedure remains a subject of debate. The decision for tracheostomy should take into consideration the risks and benefits of prolonged endotracheal intubation versus tracheostomy. Timing of tracheostomy is also influenced by the indications for the procedure, which include relie...

In the United Kingdom, it is current practice for paramedics to perform tracheal intubation on trauma patients when the airway is compromised and basic airway manoeuvres have failed. Paramedics in Britain never use anaesthetic drugs or muscle relaxants to achieve intubation. Anecdotal experience shows that patients who can be intubated without the use of drugs have a poor prognosis. We investig...

Endotracheal intubation is widely used for airway management in a prehospital setting, despite a lack of controlled trials demonstrating a positive effect on survival or neurological outcome in adult patients. The benefits, in term of outcomes of invasive airway management before reaching hospital, remain controversial. However, inadequate airway management in this patient population is the pri...

Introduction: Laryngotracheal stenosis can be caused after traumatic injuries to the neck from the subglottic larynx to the trachea. Patients with laryngotracheal stenosis often need a tracheotomy and occasionally may become tracheotomy dependent. Different procedures have been described for the management of these lesions. Management options include techniques of endoscopic dilation, laser res...

Blunt and penetrating trauma to the neck can result in life-threatening injuries that demand immediate attention and intervention on the part of the emergency physician and trauma surgeon. This article provides a literature-based update of the evaluation and management of injuries to aerodigestive and vascular organs of the neck. A brief review of cervical spine injuries related to penetrating ...

BACKGROUND Emergency airway management for trauma adults is practised by physicians from a range of training backgrounds and with differing levels of experience. The indications for intubation and technique employed are factors that vary within EDs and between hospitals. OBJECTIVES To provide practical evidence based guidance for airway management in trauma resuscitation: first for the trauma...