Controversy exists as to the most effective management option for elderly patients with type II odontoid fractures. Furthermore, outcomes for patients who do not achieve fusion or fracture healing after treatment remain unclear in the literature. The purpose of this study is to evaluate fracture-healing rates, functional outcomes, complications, and mortality associated with rigid cervical coll...

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of soft, semirigid and hard cervical collars to immobilize the neck in a destabilized cadaver model. DESIGN This is a laboratory experiment. SETTING The anatomy research lab of McMaster University. PATIENTS None. Fresh cadavers from elderly patients suffering terminal medical illness and free of cervical structural disease were studied. INTERVENTIONS Des...

The cervical collar has been routinely used for trauma patients for more than 30 years and is a hallmark of state-of-the-art prehospital trauma care. However, the existing evidence for this practice is limited: Randomized, controlled trials are largely missing, and there are uncertain effects on mortality, neurological injury, and spinal stability. Even more concerning, there is a growing body ...

Fixation of the axis may be necessary in cases of atlantoaxial instability, secondary to different causes, such as congenital, trauma, neoplasm or inflammatory diseases.1 Additionally, the axis may be included in the spinal instrumentation procedure requiring occipitocervical stabilization or even extension of the subaxial cervical spine surgeries.1 The classic fixation of the atlantoaxial regi...

We reviewed 41 patients over the age of 65 years (mean 76.5) who had suffered cervical spine injuries, 12 of them with neurological deficit. Eleven patients died during treatment, mostly from respiratory disease. Seven patients were treated by surgical stabilisation, five by halo traction, and the rest by rigid collars or halo-vests. The cervical injury was missed at the first examination in fo...

In acute whiplash injuries, early physiotherapy has been shown to reduce pain and increase cervical movement, but the cost-effectiveness of this treatment has been questioned. It is unclear whether the benefits result from manipulative physiotherapy or from the patient's ability to perform the accompanying home exercise programme when instructed about its importance. In a single blind prospecti...

INTRODUCTION Clay-shoveler's fracture is a rare cervicodorsal spinous process fracture and there is little information regarding the prognosis of patients with this condition in conjunction with osteoporosis and corticosteroid use. CASE PRESENTATION A 39-year-old man was admitted to our institution with a 6-month history of cervicodorsal pain prior to admission. The patient had previously und...

The cervical collar has been routinely used for trauma patients for more than 30 years and is a hallmark of state-of-the-art prehospital trauma care. However, the existing evidence for this practice is limited: Randomized, controlled trials are largely missing, and there are uncertain effects on mortality, neurological injury, and spinal stability. Even more concerning, there is a growing body ...