Introduction

Many vital structures are crammed into the neck, which acts as a conduit carrying blood, nerve impulses, and air in both directions as well as food, usually downwards, to the rest of the gastrointestinal tract. Such a region is, therefore unsurprisingly, vulnerable to severe injury, the incidence and extent of which may not be readily appreciated, especially in blunt impact trauma. In cases where there are multiple injuries not confined to the neck, there may be a tendency for the inexperienced observer to concentrate on the more obvious lesions, thus overlooking or delaying the diagnosis of significant injuries to this region.