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Gupta et al. Plast Aesthet Res 2018;5:46 Plastic and
DOI: 10.20517/2347-9264.2018.66 Aesthetic Research

Technical Note Open Access

Innovative cervical splint: overcoming an obstacle

Saurabh Gupta, Ravi Kumar Chittoria, Elankumar Subbarao, Konda Sireesha Reddy, Vinayak Chavan,
Abhinav Aggarwal, Chirra Likhitha Reddy

Department of Plastic Surgery, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry 605006, India.
Correspondence to: Dr. Ravi Kumar Chittoria, Department of Plastic Surgery, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education
and Research, Pondicherry 605006, India. E-mail: drchittoria@yahoo.com
How to cite this article: Gupta S, Chittoria RK, Subbarao E, Reddy KS, Chavan V, Aggarwal A, Reddy CL. Innovative cervical splint:
overcoming an obstacle. Plast Aesthet Res 2018;5:46. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-9264.2018.66
Received: 13 Sep 2018 First Decision: 14 Sep 2018 Revised: 2 Dec 2018 Accepted: 13 Dec 2018 Published: 26 Dec 2018

Science Editor: Raúl González-García Copy Editor: Cui Yu Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Abstract

Cervical splints are used to maintain the neck position in burn patients with involvement of neck, which provides
pain relief and prevent hypertrophic scarring and contracture. Due to the technical difficulty, cervical splinting often
deferred in patients with tracheostomy. To overcome the difficulty the authors have described a simple modification
of hard cervical collar, which provided adequate immobilization and adequate space for tracheostomy care. Innovative
modification of hard cervical collar proposed in this case report can be a solution to overcome the difficulty posed by
tracheostomy in patients sustained with neck burns.

Keywords: Modified cervical splint, neck burns, tracheostomy, cervical collar

INTRODUCTION
[1]
Partial and full-thickness burns in neck region are reported in 35% of total burn patients . Neck burns are
associated with inhalational injuries and airway edema; and it is necessary to secure the airway early in
these cases either by endotracheal intubation or tracheostomy. The majority of these patients present with
airway edema, tracheostomy is preferred over endotracheal intubation in view of difficult airway.

[2]
Serghiou et al. has quoted that “The position of comfort is the position of deformity”. Hence physical
rehabilitation of patients who have sustained burn injury is an important part of management and requires
multimodality treatment which involves splinting of affected part. In patients of neck burns, neck needs to
be maintained in 15 degree extension . Tracheostomy tube acts as an obstacle for applying neck splint . We
[2]
[3]
present a simple modification of hard cervical collar to be used in tracheostomized patients.
© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
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