Background The mechanism of injury, type of pathology, mode of management and specific problems, in the pediatric age group make these a unique population. The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown caused a significant reduction in the number of road traffic accidents during the same period and the resultant number of head injuries in children. Methods This was a descriptive study of 76 consecutive pediatric patients admitted with head injury between June and December 2020. Children under 18 years with head injury admitted in our hospital were included. Results The most common etiology of pediatric head injury was found to be fall from height (61.8%) followed by road traffic accidents (27.6%). The most common age group affected was 1 to 5 years with a mean of 6.3 ± 5 years. Road traffic accidents were commonly seen in the 15 to 18 age group. The Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) of 1 (death) was seen in one patient (1.3%) and low disability in 98.7% of patients. Conclusion Falls formed the most important cause of pediatric head injury during this pandemic, and carefulness on the part of parents can help avoid dangerous consequences for the children. Recovery with minimal disability was observed in approximately all cases in this study. The number of severe traumatic brain injury was very low in this study. This can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic causing significant reduction in road traffic accidents and the number of severe head injury

Background: This study was carried out with the objective to identify the tubercle of Zuckerkandl in patients undergoing thyroidectomy and to establish the relationship of TZN with the recurrent laryngeal nerve and superior parathyroid gland.Methods: 100 patients posted for thyroidectomy for various causes in Government medical college, Kozhikode for a period of 1 year between March 2014 and March 2015. 92 patients underwent total thyroidectomy, 4 patients underwent left hemithyroidectomy and 4 patients underwent right hemithyroidectomy. A total of 192 lobes i.e. 96 right lobes and 96 left lobes were studied.Results: Of the 100 patients studied TZN was identified in 63 (63%) patients. Of the 192 lobes studied, TZN was identified in 100 lobes (52.08%). This was 59 of 96 (61.40%) lobes on the right side and 41 of 96 (42.70%) lobes on the left side. Of the 92 Total Thyroidectomies, TZN was found bilaterally in 36 (39.10%) cases. RLN was identified ‘posteromedial’ in relation in 99 of the 100 (99%) TZNs studied and not visualized in relation to TZN in 1 (1%) case. The Superior Parathyroid was identified ‘superolateral’ in relation in 93 (93%), ‘lateral’ in 6 (6%) and ‘inferolateral’ in 1 (1%) of 100 TZNs studied.Conclusions: Zuckerkandl’s tubercle is a posterior extension of lateral lobes of the thyroid gland, maintains a constant relationship with the RLN and the superior parathyroid gland. It can be used as an anatomical landmark to assist in preservation of the RLN and the superior parathyroid gland during thyroid surgery.