Cervical Pneumatocele as Delayed Manifestation of Tracheal Injury after Thyroidectomy: Case Series and Literature Review

Delayed manifestation of surgical emphysema as cervical pneumatocele post thyroid surgery is rare and unexpected that which needs to be managed appropriately. Herein we report three cases of delayed tracheal injury presenting with persistent subcutaneous emphysema, without acute respiratory distress. All three cases were managed surgically. Possible risk factors were discussed alongside hypotheses on the mechanisms of delayed tracheal injury and recommendations to prevent such complications. The management algorithm was summarized after the literature review. While surgical management is definitive, the non-surgical approach can also be a reasonable option, but requires a longer hospital stay.