Clinical presentation of patients with acute cervical spine injury

✍ Scribed by James Walter; Peter E Doris; Mark A Shaffer

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 402 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1097-6760
• DOI: 10.1016/s0196-0644(84)80515-6

✦ Synopsis

A retrospective review of 67 patients with acute cervical spine fracture and/ or dislocation was conducted at two suburban community hospital emergency departments. The mean age was 39, and two-thirds of the patients were male. Motor vehicle accidents and falls accounted for more than 80% of all injuries. On emergency department evaluation, it was found that there was no history of loss of consciousness in 42 patients (63%), no associated crania-facial injuries in 31 patients (46%), and a normal sensorimotor examination in 59 patients (88%). Thirty-four patients (50%) were evaluated for cervical range of motion, which was found to be normal in one-third of the cases. The absence of mental status changes, crania-facial injuries, range of motion abnormalities, and focal neurological findings is, therefore, not uncommon in patients who have sustained cervical spine injury.