[Injured tongue due to bite of fer-de-lance (author's transl)].

A nine-year-old boy was bitten in the tongue by an Asiatic fer-de-lance, a Trimenesurus wagleri. No generalized toxic reaction developed; there was only locally a massive edema of the tongue leading to a severe dyspnea. The child was intubated and administered antiphlogistics, antibiotics, cortison, a tetanus booster shot as well as parenteral nutrition. After three days the local status was unchanged. Because of the danger of the development of necrosis in the laryngeal region as a result of the toxic effect and the sustained intubation, a tracheotomy inferior was carried out. The status localis improved considerably after surgery, so that a week after the bite the tracheostoma could be closed. Four weeks later no pathological findings were made any more, the tracheostoma had healed up well.