Field Airway Management of a Construction Worker with an Impaling Rebar Injury to the Neck and Brain

Abstract

This article discusses a case of airway management by air ambulance emergency medical services (EMS) providers in a 22-year-old man impaled through the neck into the brain with 0.5-inch rebar. Penetrating neck injuries (PNIs) with impalement are extraordinarily rare. It is important for EMS providers and emergency medicine physicians to have an understanding of the initial management of an impaled patient with PNI, including having an organized approach to establishing a definitive airway and recognizing the airway complications that PNI may cause. This article discusses out-of-hospital management of impaled patients.

Key words: :

• impalement
• penetrating neck injury
• airway management
• rapid-sequence intubation