INTRODUCTION The diagnosis of cervical spine injuries remains a significant problem in many blunt trauma patients. Correct and early diagnosis of these injuries is imperative as delayed or missed diagnoses result in increased morbidity and mortality. CASE PRESENTATION A 57-year-old Caucasian woman presented with a misdiagnosed bilateral C5-C6 dislocation one month after a fall and head injury...

In a consecutive series of 30 hospitalized cervical injury patients, 18 proved to have widening of the prevertebral soft tissue space due to hematoma. The upper limit of normal width in 50 noninjury patients was used as a reference. Hematoma almost exclusively manifested at C1-C4 and proved to be closely related to fractures of anterior elements of the spine. Relatively small hematomas were enc...

BACKGROUND Patients with neck pain, headache, torticollis, or neurological signs should be screened carefully for upper cervical spine instability, as these conditions are "red flags" for applying physical therapy interventions. However, little is known about the diagnostic accuracy of upper cervical spine instability tests. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic acc...

STUDY DESIGN A retrospective chart analysis of pediatric trauma patients with suspected cervical spine injury was performed. OBJECTIVES This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and cost-efficiency of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol for cervical spine clearance in pediatric trauma patients. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA The evaluation of cervical spine injury in the pediatri...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of arm traction for cervical spine imaging in trauma patients and devise a scheme to predict the probability of visualising the C7/T1 level in trauma patients. METHODS 98 trauma patients were studied. Each vertebral body was divided into three equal horizontal zones, the disc space between vertebral bodies being equivalent to one zone. The fifth cervica...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is usually combined with cervical spine (C-spine) injury. The possibility of C-spine injury is always considered when performing endotracheal intubation in these patients. Rapid sequence intubation is recommended with adequate sedative or analgesics and a muscle relaxant to prevent an increase in intracranial pressure during intubation in TBI patients. Normocapnia a...

Study Design. This case illustrates complications to a vertebral artery injury (VAI) resulting from penetrating cervical spine trauma. Objectives. To discuss the management of both VAI and cervical spine trauma after penetrating gunshot wound to the neck. Summary of Background Data. Vertebral artery injury following cervical spine trauma is infrequent, and a unilateral VAI often occurs without ...

To minimize risk of spinal cord injury, airway management providers must understand the anatomic and functional relationship between the airway, cervical column, and spinal cord. Patients with known or suspected cervical spine injury may require emergent intubation for airway protection and ventilatory support or elective intubation for surgery with or without rigid neck stabilization (i.e., ha...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study of prospectively collected data. OBJECTIVE To examine the incidence of iatrogenic spinal cord injury following elective cervical spine surgery. METHODS A retrospective multicenter case series study involving 21 high-volume surgical centers from the AOSpine North America Clinical Research Network was conducted. Medical records for 17 625 patients who r...