Background: Mandibular distraction is an effective treatment for mandibular hypoplasia. Special care must be done while performing the corticotomies to prevent injuries to blood vessels or nerves nearby. A rare iatrogenic severe injury occurred while performing this operation.
Report of patient: A 3 year-old girl was operated upon to correct mandibular hypoplasia. A rotating saw was used to perform corticotomies in the mandibular angle. In the right side occurred acute bleeding and in the saw there was a piece of a blood vessel that was 15 mm long and 2 mm in diameter with an open lumen. Exploration of the neck revealed that the most distal segment of the internal carotid artery was severed, with a thrombus in the proximal end. The distal segment retracted into the temporal bone without bleeding. The proximal artery was ligated. After recovery she moved well. A computed tomogram was normal and further condition improved clinically.
Conclusion: This complication from the use of a rotary saw has not been documented previously and it must be prevented by using some protection behind the bone.