Stick Injury on imaging - a case series with variable outcome

Perforating oropharyngeal injuries caused by foreign bodies occur more frequently in medium-sized and large dogs. Wood is a common representative. There are different case reports on how invasive such an injury is and which imaging diagnostic is most recommendable and informative. Three cases of wooden cervical foreign bodies are described, which entered the body via an oropharyngeal perforation and remained in the tissue for varying lengths of time. It was not possible to reliably identify the foreign body in radiographs in every case. In the end, computed tomography was the decisive diagnostic tool for the response of the foreign body and also the assessment of the extent of the injury. It was also possible to detect changes in the surrounding tissue and other body regions, such as the mediastinum or thorax, and to exclude further foreign bodies. The information from the computed tomography correlated with the picture intraoperative. The surgical procedure was similar in all three patients, but the outcome was variable. Hospitalization time was prolonged with a higher degree of contamination of the wound and was dependent on the body region. One patient was euthanized, while the other two were discharged promptly to home care and the drain was pulled. The true extent of a perforating oropharyngeal stick injury should always be questioned. Symptoms can vary widely from dolence, hypersalivation, dysphagia and pyrexia to recurrent fistula. The most reliable method for detecting a remaining foreign body and also the extent of the injury is computed tomography.