Rupture cricotrachéale: Que faire ?

Cricotracheal Separation after Gunshot to the Neck: Report of a Survivor with Recovery of Bilateral Vocal Fold Function.

Vivero RJ et Al. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2013.08.090

Il s'agit d'une éventualité rarissime mais cette observation montre qu'en situation d'isolement extrême il peut être possible d'agir si la partie distale est visible. Encore faut il connaître l'existence de cette conduite à tenir.

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Initial appropriate airway management is imperative to improve survival. Numerous case reports in the literature demonstrate incidental findings of airway injury after routine workup of the patient or the advent of ominous clinical findings (1,2) . At this stage in patient management, it can become difficult to adequately secure the airway, which places the patient at increased risk. A careful physical examination is therefore critical, with fiberoptic laryngoscopy used, as necessary, in the stable patient. A CT scan can be a useful adjunct in the clinical workup, but it should not be relied upon solely, as it can be inconclusive (3) . When cricotracheal separation is identified and the patient is stable, the airway should be secured surgically in the operating room or trauma bay. The proximal stump of the airway should be grasped and secured with a clamp, and then an awake tracheotomy performed (under local anesthesia if possible) distal to the injury. In the event that the patient is unstable or that intubation fails, the distal stump of the trachea should be identified either visually or by palpation. The stump of trachea should then be grasped with a clamp and pulled superficially (out of the wound toward the skin surface), and an appropriately sized endotracheal tube is placed as a temporary measure and secured. The clamp should not be removed from the airway, as the distal tracheal stump can retract into the mediastinum. The patient should then be taken to the operating room emergently for formal tracheotomy or maturation of the airway tracheostoma. In general, cricothyrotomy should not be performed, as this is usually proximal to the site of airway separation.