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Penetrating injuries are a rare yet complex variety of oral and maxillofacial trauma and often require a multidisciplinary approach to treatment. The primary survey is always the first step in trauma management prior to proceeding with further evaluation and treatment. The following case report discusses the clinical strategy for a rare transoral and trans-spinal penetrating injury. A 42-year-old man presented with a penetrating metal injury through the oral cavity. A computed tomography scan revealed a 12.8-cm-long knife penetrating through the tongue, floor of the mouth, and hypopharynx reaching the spinal cord in close proximity to the right vertebral artery. The patient did not present with any neurological malfunctions. An emergency tracheotomy was performed for airway protection. A balloon catheter was inserted into the right vertebral artery using interventional angiography to prevent massive bleeding prior to extraction. The knife was then surgically removed, and soft tissue reconstruction was performed without major bleeding. Postoperative magnetic resonance imaging angiography showed no bleeding of the right vertebral artery, but there was mild cerebellar infarction. Early isolated paresis of the right arm returned to nearly normal function within 1 week. This case demonstrates that complex penetrating injuries of the oral and maxillofacial region require a structured and multidisciplinary approach to prevent further side effects and obtain an ideal clinical outcome.

BackgroundTo study neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and potential predictive factors for response in locally advanced oral cavity cancer (LA-OCC).MethodsThe INVERT trial is an ongoing single-center, prospective phase 2, proof-of-principle trial. Operable patients with stage III-IVA squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity were eligible and received nCRT consisting of 60 Gy with concomitant cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil. Surgery was scheduled 6-8 weeks after completion of nCRT. Explorative, multiplex immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on pretreatment tumor specimen, and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) was conducted prior to, during nCRT (day 15), and before surgery to identify potential predictive biomarkers and imaging features. Primary endpoint was the pathological complete response (pCR) rate.ResultsSeventeen patients with stage IVA OCC were included in this interim analysis. All patients completed nCRT. One patient died from pneumonia 10 weeks after nCRT before surgery. Complete tumor resection (R0) was achieved in 16/17 patients, of whom 7 (41%, 95% CI: 18-67%) showed pCR. According to the Clavien-Dindo classification, grade 3a and 3b complications were found in 4 (25%) and 5 (31%) patients, respectively; grade 4-5 complications did not occur. Increased changes in the apparent diffusion coefficient signal intensities between MRI at day 15 of nCRT and before surgery were associated with better response (p=0.022). Higher abundances of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) positive cytotoxic T-cells (p=0.012), PD1+ macrophages (p=0.046), and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs, p=0.036) were associated with incomplete response to nCRT.ConclusionnCRT for LA-OCC followed by radical surgery is feasible and shows high response rates. Larger patient cohorts from randomized trials are needed to further investigate nCRT and predictive biomarkers such as changes in DW-MRI signal intensities, tumor infiltrating immune cells, and CAFs.