Citation

Shen Y, Li K, Chen P, Yu Y, Chen F. Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s12024-021-00391-z

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Delayed subglottic stenosis (SGS) is an unusual complication. Here, we report a particular case of delayed SGS. A 17-year-old female suffered extensive injuries including severe neck trauma in a car accident, and complained of dyspnea after 30 days. Tracheal stenosis was observed by fiber optic bronchoscopy, but no specific treatment was administered to the patient. While being transferred to a tertiary hospital 3 days later, the patient fell into deep coma due to hypoxia, and died of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and severe pulmonary infection in the intensive care unit (ICU) 58 days later. Postmortem autopsy and pathological investigation revealed tracheal stenosis 3.0 cm below the vocal cords with a diameter of 0.5 cm, which was caused by a cricoid cartilage fracture, fibrous tissue proliferation and inflammatory cell infiltration. We believed that external forces caused the cricoid fracture and mucosal damage, and after a month of fibrous repair, scar tissue formed the stenosis and caused her death. This report describes a rare condition in which slowly progressive intralaryngeal stenosis formation after external neck trauma could cause asphyxial death in a previously asymptomatic adult.

Language: en

Keywords

Trauma; Hypoxia; Cricoid cartilage fracture; Subglottic stenosis