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Sharp neck injuries in suicidal intention

  • Head and Neck
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Abstract

Sharp neck injuries in suicidal intention often present as serious emergency situations with the need for an immediate diagnosis and treatment. We report our study of the clinical evolution of this emergency condition. This study investigates the cases of sharp neck injuries in suicidal intention treated at our institution between 2000 and 2010. Patient records were collected in a retrospectively reviewed and analyzed database. The current literature was compared to our findings. We found 36 cases (10 female and 26 male). The neck injuries were superficial and profound in 16 and 20 patients, respectively. Twenty-two patients were seen by the Head and Neck surgeon. A surgical neck exploration was necessary in 19 cases. Tracheal, laryngeal, pharyngeal and vascular injuries were found in one, five, three and three cases, respectively. The hospital stay ranged from 1 to 47 days. All the patients underwent emergency psychiatric assessment and were subsequently referred for psychiatric treatment. One patient died in the emergency room from an additional arterial injury to the wrist. Sharp neck injuries in suicidal intention treated with an interdisciplinary medical, surgical and psychiatric emergency assessment and treatment have low mortality and morbidity.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Christian Wolf for his kind assistance in formatting the document and figures.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Inselspital, University of Bern, 3010, Bern, Switzerland

    Damien Biétry, Peter Zbären, Marco Caversaccio & Andreas Arnold

  2. Department of Emergency Medicine, Inselspital, University of Bern, 3010, Bern, Switzerland

    Aristomenis Exadaktylos

  3. University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Bern, 3010, Bern, Switzerland

    Thomas Müller

Authors
  1. Damien Biétry
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  2. Aristomenis Exadaktylos
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  3. Thomas Müller
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  4. Peter Zbären
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  5. Marco Caversaccio
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  6. Andreas Arnold
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Correspondence to Damien Biétry.

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Biétry, D., Exadaktylos, A., Müller, T. et al. Sharp neck injuries in suicidal intention. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 272, 3825–3831 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-014-3471-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-014-3471-y

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