Abstract Sixty-seven patients with penetrating neck wounds were treated at the Hennepin County General Hospital during the past ten years. There was a 6 per cent mortality in these cases which included twenty-five gunshot wounds and forty-one deep lacerations. Evidence indicates that if wound extends through the platysma muscle and enters or traverses the central vital area of the neck, the wound should be formally explored even if there is no obvious injury to important structures.