The cutaneous sensibility for vibration and temperature in the trigeminal skin area was examined with quantitative methods in 30 patients with a previous soft-tissue injury of the cervical spine. Sixteen patients with chronic and disabling symptoms had significantly increased thresholds for vibration over the ophthalmic (p less than 0.001) and mandibular (p less than 0.01) divisions of the trig...

A 30-year-old man presented to the emergency department after a motorcycle accident at high speed. He reported neck pain and referred paresthesia along the fourth and fifth fingers of both the left and the right hand. The patient arrived at hospital hemodynamically stable. His Glasgow Coma Scale was 15 and the physical examination revealed numbness of the ulnar side of the left and the right ha...

DIAGNOSTIC STANDARDS There is insufficient evidence to support diagnostic standards. GUIDELINES In children who have experienced trauma and are alert, conversant, have no neurological deficit, no midline cervical tenderness, and no painful distracting injury, and are not intoxicated, cervical spine x-rays are not necessary to exclude cervical spine injury and are not recommended. In childr...

INTRODUCTION Cervical spine fractures and dislocations are uncommon injuries that can have serious neurological consequences. These injuries require adequate stabilisation to prevent further spinal cord injury during transfer between hospitals. Evacuation often requires a combination of road ambulance, helicopter and fixed wing aircraft from military hospitals. This paper outlines the neck inju...

The initial evaluation and management of cervical spine injuries is of critical importance because of the impact of early treatment and management on the patient's eventual outcome. The devastation and cost of missing even one unstable cervical spine fracture is tremendous. The existence of patients with an unsuspected cervical spine fracture who have few, if any, symptoms and/or signs of an in...

BACKGROUND Catastrophic cervical spine injuries in football are rare but tragic events. PURPOSE To update the incidence of catastrophic cervical injuries in scholastic football players and identify new injury patterns. STUDY DESIGN Descriptive epidemiology study. METHODS The authors retrospectively reviewed 196 incidents of catastrophic high school and collegiate football injuries reporte...

The purpose of this paper was to inform the reader that prolonged upper airway obstruction after posterior cervical spine surgery is a possible complication for patients with metastatic tumor of upper cervical spine. A 49-year-old man presented severe neck pain during posture changes due to metastatic spinal tumor of C2. Occipitocervical fusion following removal of the posterior arch of C1 and ...