Open AccessAn unusual cause of unilateral facial injuries caused by horseshoe headrest during prone positional craniovertebral junction surgery
Author(s) -
Chetna Shamshery,
Rudrashish Haldar,
Arun Kumar Srivastava,
Ashutosh Kaushal,
Sheela Srivastava,
Prabhat Kumar Singh
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of craniovertebral junction and spine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.38
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 0976-9285
pISSN - 0974-8237
DOI - 10.4103/0974-8237.176629
Subject(s) - medicine , complication , surgery , horseshoe (symbol) , computer science , programming language
Pressure injuries are an accepted complication of prone positioning during the neurosurgical procedures. Horseshoe headrest are intended to reduce the incidence and severity of such injuries by allowing limited areas of contact between the skin of dependent areas of contact and the supporting surfaces. We report a case where a patient positioned prone over a horseshoe headrest developed inadvertent unilateral facial pressure injuries following a 6-h long craniovertebral junction (CVJ) surgery. We attempt to highlight this complication, analyze its causation, and briefly review the existing literature related to similar reported injuries.