Indications for surgery in upper cervical spine injury

✍ Scribed by Josef Pospiech; Uta Schick; Dietmar Stolke

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 974 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0344-5607
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00418071

✦ Synopsis

20% of all spine injuries are cervical spine injuries. Surgical treatment of these injuries must take into account the great mobility of this part of the spinal column. Therefore, biomechanical aspects must be considered, especially in the upper cervical spine -C1 and C2. Describing our own therapeutical regimen in 35 patients with unstable upper cervical spine injuries we explain the biomechanical background and review the literature. It becomes evident that ventral approaches are superior to dorsal techniques for decompression, reposition, and stabilization with minimal loss of mobility.