Complications following surgery

• Anatomical such as recurrent laryngeal nerve damage.
• Bleeding. Owing to the confined space haematoma's may rapidly lead to respiratory compromise owing to laryngeal oedema.

Postoperative stridor in patients who have undergone neck surgery is a life-threatening emergency. Using an ABCDE approach, this patient has potentially compromised airway and breathing. Each patient undergoing head and neck surgery is returned to the ward with a suture blade. In the event of a post-operative bleed. If a bleed occurs, the pressure behind the suture line increases and the trachea becomes compressed resulting in stridor. Therefore 3 is the answer because immediate removal of the pressure will relieve the stridor. Senior assistance will be required as this patient will require further surgery for haemostasis.

• Damage to the parathyroid glands resulting in hypocalcaemia.