Two lucky survivors of thoracic impalement in childhood: case report and literature review

A non-lethal left sided thoracic impalement injury: A case report

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

Impalement injuries are those injuries that result from the injuring object or weapon being stuck on to the victim's body parts. Such cases occur rarely and when they do they pose a great challenge starting from transportation to anesthesia induction and surgical decision. The extremities are the commonest parts of the body where this occurs. Only a few reports of thoracic impalement injuries have been documented in the literature.

CASE PRESENTATION

Here we present a case of a 25 years old male patient who presented 36 hours after sustaining an impalement injury to his left chest by a metallic spear. He was explored via a left posterolateral thoracotomy incision and the spear was removed under direct vision successfully.

CLINICAL DISCUSSION

Thoracic impalement injuries occur very rarely in the civilian setting. The most important pillar in the management of such injuries is to avoid any manipulation of the impaled object outside of an operation theater where it's done under direct vision in a controlled manner. Post-operative care includes tube thoracostomy, antibiotics and chest physiotherapy and the other components of the enhanced recovery after surgery protocol components.

CONCLUSION

Thoracic impalements are extremely uncommon, as are impalement injuries in general. When they do occur, multidisciplinary teams-primarily the surgeon, anesthesiologists, and emergency physicians. Early cardiothoracic consultation and avoiding manipulation of the impaled object by all means necessary outside of operating room along with the standard advanced trauma life support principles are cornerstones in the management of this patients.

An impressive case of isolated thoracic impalement

Case

A 61-year-old male construction worker was admitted to our Emergency Department due to being impaled in the chest after fall onto the long pole of his cement mixer. He was promptly scanned through the CT then transferred to theatre where unique technique for intubation was utilised prior to performing a Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery exploration and extraction of the foreign object.

Discussion

Impalement injuries are classified into Types I or II depending on the direction of movement of the human body in relation to the foreign object. There currently is no consensus on the best management of chest wall injuries involving impalements. Our case utilised Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery as the dominant method of intervention together with highly skilled anaesthetic preparation.

Conclusion

The combined expert anaesthetic and surgical approach utilised collectively had a role in ensuring the best possible outcome for the patient.