Cervical spine immobilization is an essential component of the ATLS(®) system. Inadequate training in the management of trauma calls and failure of early recognition can have disastrous consequences. Pre-hospital personnel are routinely involved more in the assessment and stabilization of patients in comparison to other health care professionals.This case study and review highlights the importa...

BACKGROUND Congenital spinal abnormalities can easily be misdiagnosed on plain radiographs. Additional imaging is warranted in doubtful cases, especially in a setting of acute trauma. CASE PRESENTATION This patient presented at the emergency unit of our university hospital after a motor vehicle accident and was sent to our radiology department for imaging of the cervical spine. Initial clinic...

Dear Editors, Cervical collars are necessary to immobilise the cervical spine of patients with multiple trauma (1,2). This devise remains in situ until the radiographic cervical spine clearance is completed (2). A 29-year-old male with multiple trauma and subdural haemorrhage admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) was selected for this case study. The patient had been taken to hospital by em...

Vertebral artery injury associated with non-penetrating cervical trauma is rare. We report 11 cases of vertebral artery injury diagnosed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after blunt trauma to the cervical spine and discuss about the importance of MRI in the diagnosis of this injury. Seven cases were caused by motor vehicle accidents, three by diving accidents, and one by static compression...

STUDY DESIGN A prospective analysis evaluating neurologic outcome after early versus late surgery for cervical spinal cord trauma. OBJECTIVES The study was conducted to determine whether neurologic and functional outcome is improved in traumatic cervical spinal cord-injured patients (C3-T1, American Spinal Injury Association grades A-D) who had early surgery (<72 hours after spinal cord injur...

Use of ceiling-mounted radiographic equipment in an emergency room for management of the multiply injured patient is described. The protocol of the Advanced Trauma and Life Support manual is followed and three plain radiographs (lateral cervical spine, anteroposterior views of the chest and pelvis) are obtained by the radiographers, who are members of the trauma team. Abnormalities were diagnos...

Cervicogenic headache (CEH) is a well-recognized syndrome. Proposed diagnostic criteria differentiate CEH from migraine and tension-type headache (TTH) in most of the cases. The best differentiating factors include side-locked unilateral pain irradiating from the back and evidence of neck involvement--attacks may be precipitated by digital pressure over trigger spots in the cervical/nuchal area...

Cervical spine injury occurs in 5-10% of cases of blunt polytrauma. A missed or delayed diagnosis of cervical spine injury may be associated with permanent neurological sequelae. However, there is no consensus about the ideal evaluation and management of the potentially injured cervical spine and, despite the publication of numerous clinical guidelines, this issue remains controversial. In addi...

BACKGROUND The necessity of routine tests as regarded in the Advanced Trauma Life Support protocols has become controversial in recent years. The aim of this study was to analyze the necessity of routine tests in trauma patients. METHODS This was a prospective study. A total of 103 blunt trauma patients aged between 15 and 65 years who presented to the emergency department with major trauma, ...