Whiptail Stingray Injury

Abstract

Stingray injuries to the chest are rare but potentially life-threatening. They may occur in remote areas where advanced emergency healthcare services are unavailable. We describe the case of a 24-year-old man with tension pneumothorax due to a Himantura fai stingray injury to the left chest. The chest wound was unremarkable, with no external bleeding or evidence of a foreign body. Decompression was performed at the scene with an improvised knife procedure and a hollow writing pen, which served as a chest tube. At the local hospital, a standard-sized chest tube was inserted, the wound cleaned, and the patient given antibiotics active against marine organisms. Computed tomography visualized the stinger and revealed hemopneumothorax and pneumomediastinum. The local hospital did not have a thoracic surgeon, and the patient was transferred to a larger hospital with a thoracic surgery center. After surgical removal of the stinger, segmental lung resection was required to control bleeding. Management of life-threatening stingray injuries to the chest should begin at the scene. After stabilization, the patient should be transferred to a hospital equipped for cardiovascular and thoracic surgery. Surgery may be required to remove the retroserrated stinger and can be challenging.

Penetrating Thoracic Injury and Fatal Aortic Transection From the Barb of a Stingray

“…There are 2 recent case reports of survivors of neck 13 and thoracic 14 injuries, respectively. The first case report 13 describes a patient with a small entrance wound on his neck from a stingray that caused a missed traumatic pneumothorax, which was subsequently discovered and treated with chest tube insertion and wound debridement.…”

“…The first case report 13 describes a patient with a small entrance wound on his neck from a stingray that caused a missed traumatic pneumothorax, which was subsequently discovered and treated with chest tube insertion and wound debridement. Another case report 14 describes a patient with a thoracic stingray injury that caused a hemopneumothorax and pneumomediastinum. The patient survived with prompt treatment, which included chest decompression by inserting a fillet knife into the fifth intercostal space on the midaxillary line at scene, chest tube insertion at a local hospital, and stinger removal and segmental lung resection at a thoracic surgery center.…”

Accidental neck and chest penetration by a metal sliver derived from an axe for wood chopping: a case report

“…For example, Laurent et al and Mahjoubi et al . described a whiptail stingray injury causing, respectively, tension pneumothorax and hemopneumothorax associated with a tracheal wound [2, 3]. Another interesting case series was reported by Ndiaye et al that described five cases of penetrating chest wounds caused by weapons made from swordfish swords [4].…”