An unusual type of severe barotrauma owing to automobile tire biting in a child

Traumatic esophageal perforation by a self bougienage

The case report describes a 75-year-old female with esophageal perforation by a self bougienage. From a decade ago, she had performed an esophageal bougienage by herself with a 70 cm long self-made bougie whenever she suffered from food impaction. On the day of the accident, she went on an outing without carrying the bougie, she pushed a broken bough into her esophagus, eventually the bough perforated her thoracic esophagus. We found some food particles in a large mediastinal abscess cavity, and the perforated esophagus was repaired by interrupted sutures and reinforced with a pedicled intercostal musculopleural flap. We report an extremely rare case of esophageal perforation by a self bougienage.

Delayed Diagnosis of Pharyngeal Perforation following Exploding Tyre Blast Barotrauma

Introduction. Pharyngoesophageal perforation secondary to barotrauma is a rare phenomenon that can have serious complications if identified late. It is challenging to detect due to nonspecific symptoms. We present a case in which detection proved difficult leading to delayed diagnosis. Case Report. A 27-year-old mechanic presented with haemoptysis, dysphonia, and odynophagia after a car tyre exploded in his face. Flexible nasoendoscopy (FNE) revealed blood in the pharynx, thought to represent mucosal haemorrhage. Initial treatment consisted of IV dexamethasone and antibiotics. After 3 days, odynophagia persisted prompting a CT scan. This revealed a defect in the posterior hypopharynx and surgical emphysema in the deep neck tissues. Contrast swallow confirmed posterior hypopharyngeal leak. NG feeding was commenced until repeated contrast swallow confirmed resolution of the defect. Discussion. Prompt nonsurgical management of pharyngoesophageal perforation has good outcomes but untreated perforation can have serious complications. FNE should be performed routinely, but only a contrast swallow can diagnose a functional perforation. Clinicians should have a high index of clinical suspicion when patients present with barotrauma and odynophagia. Patients should be kept nil by mouth until perforation has been excluded. Conclusion. When faced with cases of facial barotrauma, clinicians should have a low threshold for further imaging to exclude pharyngoesophageal perforation.

Esophageal rupture caused by explosion of an automobile tire tube: a case report

Introduction

There have been no reports in the literature of esophageal rupture in adults resulting from an explosion of an automobile tire. We report the first case of just such an occurrence after an individual bit into a tire, causing it to explode in his mouth.

Case presentation

A 47-year-old Han Chinese man presented with massive hemorrhage in his left eye after he accidentally bit an automobile tire tube which burst into his mouth. He was diagnosed with esophageal rupture based on a chest computed tomography scan and barium swallow examination. Drainage of empyema (right chest), removal of thoracic esophagus, exposure of cervical esophagus, cardiac ligation and gastrostomy were performed respectively. After that, esophagogastrostomy was performed.

Conclusions

Successful anastomosis was obtained at the neck with no postoperative complications 3 months after the surgery. The patient was discharged with satisfactory outcomes. We present this case report to bring attention to esophageal rupture in adults during the explosion of an automobile tire tube in the mouth.

Esophageal perforation following bite of inner tube of automobile tyre: An unusual cause of barotrauma

An 8-year-old child presented with severe chest pain and respiratory distress after he accidentally bit an automobile tyre tube which burst into his mouth. The chest radiograph revealed left-sided pneumothorax. Both esophagogram and computed tomogram (CT) scan revealed a perforation of the distal third of esophagus with extravasation of contrast on left side. The patient was treated conservatively with gastrostomy feeds and antibiotics for 5 weeks with a good response.

[An extremely rare cause of bilateral tension pneumothorax]

CASE REPORT

A middle-aged man presented with the diagnosis of typical spontaneous pneumothorax in the left chest. His management was initiated as usual with a chest drain and he had an uneventful recovery with good expansion of the affected lung up until the third postoperative day. But due to a fatal accident, the patient connected the oxygene supply tube into his thoracic drain. This high pressure caused a left, and a consequent bilateral pneumothorax with massive subcutanous emphysema, being the cause of a preterminal status. Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation was unsuccesfull and the patient died. Intentional suicide was excluded by forensic investigations.

DISCUSSION

According to our knowledge, no similar case with this mechanism of tension pnemuthorax has been published in the literature so far. The pathophysiology is similar to lung damage due to high-pressure ventillation with consecutive tension pneumothorax.

Class test stress as an unusual cause of spontaneous pneumomediastinum in a 14-year-old girl

Pneumomediastinum can occur spontaneously in several medical conditions such as asthma or secondarily because of injuries of the trachea or esophagus. Both types of pneumomediastinum may be life threatening, depending on possible complications and, additionally, in the secondary pneumomediastinum, because of an underlying condition. This is the case of a 14-year-old girl who experienced a pneumomediastinum after snorting during a class test owing to psychologic stress. Because of the lack of a specific history, complete radiologic diagnostic was done to exclude any life-threatening cause of pneumomediastinum. Only then did questioning reveal anger during the class test that caused a short snorting. The case demonstrates that psychologic stress may cause pathologic patterns of breathing and thereby induce pneumomediastinum. Thus, history has to include the question on psychologic stress.

Severe tyre blast injuries during servicing

BACKGROUND

The destructive potential of the tyre explosions has received little attention in the medical literature. Fatal and severely deforming injuries have been reported. These blasts mainly affect the personnel servicing big vehicle tyres such as trucks and buses. We aimed to review the relevant literature on tyre blast injuries so as to define the mechanism of injury, outcome, and its methods of prevention.

METHODS

A search of the English literature on tyre blast injuries was performed through Medline. Different studies were retrieved, analysed and combined together.

RESULTS

A total of 763 patients were studied in the literature. Most of the patients were young aged male mechanics and the explosions usually occur during tyre servicing especially during inflation. Injury is caused by the pressure impact of the explosion or by direct hit of the rim. The head and face are the most commonly affected regions (48%) followed by the upper limbs (20%). About 25% of patients had multi-trauma. The overall mortality is high (19%) and is mainly caused by head injuries.

CONCLUSION

Inflated large tyres contain a tremendous amount of potential energy. Tyre blast injuries during servicing have a high morbidity and mortality. Preventive occupational methods should be implemented.