Open AccessA ′pen′ in the neck: An unusual foreign body and an unusual path of entry
Author(s) -
Latha P. Rao,
Sherry Peter,
K Sreekumar,
Subramania Iyer
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
indian journal of dental research/indian journal of dental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.277
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1998-3603
pISSN - 0970-9290
DOI - 10.4103/0970-9290.131159
Subject(s) - foreign body , path (computing) , medicine , anatomy , computer science , surgery , programming language
Penetrating injuries to head and neck region with varying objects have been reported in the literature. Majority of these injuries occur in interpersonal violence or bomb blasts or road traffic accidents. Despite the improvement in imaging technologies and surgical methods, penetrating injuries to head and neck with impacted foreign bodies are very challenging due to the proximity to vital structures and/or difficulties in accessing them for the removal. Following injury the normal anatomy could be altered because of edema or tissue destruction, which makes the diagnosis or retrieval more difficult. Parapharyngeal or prevertebral space is an unusual place for lodgment of foreign bodies and in these cases the usual point of entry is the oral cavity, cheek or neck. Here, we report a case of a ball point pen extending to the prevertebral region at the level of C1-C2 vertebrae from point of entry at the suprazygomatic region in the temporal fossa.