Original contribution
Incidence of cervical spine injuries in association with blunt head trauma

https://doi.org/10.1016/0735-6757(89)90125-3Get rights and content

Abstract

To establish an incidence of cervical spine injuries in significant blunt head trauma and to evaluate the necessity of using cervical radiography, all consecutive cases of blunt head trauma admitted to the trauma service over a 7-month period were reviewed. Two hundred twenty-eight charts were reviewed for demographic information, circumstance of injury, complaints and physical findings referable to the cervical spine, presenting level of consciousness, severity of head injury, and cervical spine radiographic findings. Only three patients were found to have cervical spine injuries, for an incidence of 1.7%. Of the 122 alert and asymptomatic patients, none had cervical spine injury. The patient population was defined, yet the very low incidence of cervical spine injuries associated with blunt head trauma in this study precludes any identification of predictors. Nevertheless, the results suggest that alert and asymptomatic patients can be spared cervical spine radiography.

References (20)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (87)

  • Predictors of thoracic and lumbar spine injuries in patients with TBI: A nationwide analysis

    2022, Injury
    Citation Excerpt :

    Cervical traumatic spine injury (TSI) is a common finding in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients [1–4].

  • Preventable diagnostic errors in fatal cervical spine injuries: a nationwide register-based study from 1987 to 2010

    2018, Spine Journal
    Citation Excerpt :

    Cervical spine injury (CSI) is a potentially devastating injury. Approximately 2%–4% of blunt trauma patients suffer CSI [1–4]. Falls are common in the elderly, and elderly patients may sustain a CSI after a seemingly low energy trauma—including ground-level falls [5,6].

  • Neck collar used in treatment of victims of urban motorcycle accidents: Over- or underprotection?

    2011, American Journal of Emergency Medicine
    Citation Excerpt :

    If the prehospital transportation policy followed the recommendation of Advanced Trauma Life Support (to usually immobilize patients before transport to the ED), this might cause many patients to be unnecessarily restrained and result in many complications. Bayless and Ray [14] have suggested that alert and asymptomatic patients can be spared cervical spine injuries. Como et al [9] suggested that awake and alert trauma patients without neurologic deficit or distracting injury, who have no neck pain or tenderness and with full range of motion, can be cleared for cervical spine injury.

View all citing articles on Scopus

Presented at the Second Annual Winter Meeting, Southern Medical Association, Section on Emergency Medicine, January 31, 1988, Acapulco, Mexico.

View full text