Turkish Neurosurgery 2007 , Vol 17 , Num 2
The Importance of Evaluating All Seven Cervical Vertebrae in the Trauma Patient: A Case Report
Merih İŞ, Ayşe KARATAŞ, Fevzullah AKYÜZ, Ferruh GEZEN
Düzce University, School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Düzce, Turkey The cervical spine is injured in approximately 3% of major trauma patients and 10% of patients with serious head injury. We present a patient in whom an unstable cervical spine, without neurological deficit, resulting from a traffic accident was misdiagnosed as normal in the emergency room. Although cervical spine pain or tenderness and neurological deficit have a sensitivity of 93% for cervical spine injury, asymptomatic patients or patients with mild symptoms can have spine injury. All trauma patients with a complaint of mild neck pain require a standard three-view radiological evaluation of the cervical spine demonstrating all seven vertebrae and the top of first thoracic vertebra even if their neurologic examination is normal. Keywords : Spine; Cervical Injury; Radiography; Trauma
Corresponding author : Merih İş, merihis@yahoo.com