A 25-year-old man presented to the Emergency department in a rural South African hospital after a left, submental neck stab with a knife. Examination was deemed unremarkable, and the patient was discharged, but re-attended 2 days later complaining of a painful, swollen neck. Further examination identified Horner's syndrome, and further investigation revealed that the blade of the knife had rema...

conclusions pneumoventricle is rare but it can be established after spinal trauma. by awareness of such possibility, accurate diagnosis by clinical examination and imaging is essential for these types of injuries introduction the presence of air within the intracranial cavity, due to the entry of air secondary to an abnormal communication after a dural tear, is defined as pneumocephalus and int...

Spine immobilization in trauma patients suspected of having a spinal injury has been a cornerstone of prehospital treatment for decades. Current practices are based on the belief that a patient with an injured spinal column can deteriorate neurologically without immobilization. Most treatment protocols do not differentiate between blunt and penetrating mechanisms of injury. Current Emergency Me...

Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) due to stab injuries are relatively rare (< 1.5% of SCIs) [1], and their surgical management is controversial [1-3]. The incidence of vertebral artery injury in penetrating neck trauma is around 7.4% for stab wounds [4]. We report a unique case of upper cervical spine impalement in which the knife tip was lodged in the occipitocervical level and our surgical strategy...