OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to estimate the sensitivity of plain radiographs in identifying bony or ligamentous cervical spine injury in children. METHODS We identified a retrospective cohort of children younger than 16 years with blunt trauma-related bony or ligamentous cervical spine injury evaluated between 2000 and 2004 at 1 of 17 hospitals participating in the Pediatric Eme...

After spinal cord injury, transected axons fail to regenerate, yet significant, spontaneous functional improvement can be observed over time. Distinct central nervous system regions retain the capacity to generate new neurons and glia from an endogenous pool of progenitor cells and to compensate neural cell loss following certain lesions. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Acute markers of spinal cord injury are essential for both diagnostic and prognostic purposes. The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between early MR imaging biomarkers after acute cervical spinal cord injury and to evaluate their predictive validity of neurologic impairment. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed a retrospective cohort study of 95 patients ...

BACKGROUND Cervical spine fractures with spinal cord injury (CFSCI) can be devastating. We describe the epidemiology of children and adolescents with CFSCI. METHODS Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database, we identified 4418 patients (≤18 years old) who had CFSCI from 2000 through 2010. Outcomes of interest were patient characteristics (age, sex), injury characteristics [fracture...

Clinically-relevant animal cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) models are essential for developing and testing potential therapies; however, producing reliable cervical SCI is difficult due to lack of satisfactory methods of vertebral stabilization. The conventional method to stabilize the spine is to suspend the rostral and caudal cervical spine via clamps attached to cervical spinous processes....

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To assess the feasibility of spinal tractography in patients of spinal cord injury vs a control group and to compare fractional anisotropy (FA) values between the groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed in the spinal cord of 29 patients (18 patients and 11 controls). DTI was done in the cervical region if the cord injury was at the dor...

Introduction Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the best imaging modality to demonstrate ligamentous injury, hematoma, disk herniation, spinal cord edema and hemorrhage that occur following trauma. Quantitative and qualitative image parameters like lesion length, maximum spinal cord compression, spinal cord swelling and, presence of hemorrhage within the cord has been reported to ...

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...

A 22-year-old man with schizophrenia presented with cervical spine damage caused by a crush injury. Upon admission, we performed anterior cervical decompression and fusion of vertebrae C5, C6, and C7. The patient experienced treatment-resistant hyperthermia with a body temperature >40°C. He did not show any evidence of drug use that might induce malignant hyperthermia. He also did not exhibit s...