Abstract
Because of its high flexibility, the cervical spine is prone to injury during accidents. The most common injury mechanisms are traffic accidents, falls and strangulations. The injuries may be mere soft tissue injuries, ligamentous or osseous or a combination of all. The prognosis of cervical spine injuries is determined by concomitant spinal cord injuries or by injuries of the nerve roots. The incidence in adults is estimated between 3 and 4.5% and in children below 1 %. The incidence of injuries without spinal cord injury (SCI) is about 3 %. SCI without concomitant fractures are found in about 0.7 %. The incidence of cervical spine injuries in polytraumatized patients is estimated to be about 6 %. Mortality is about 15 % and morbidity about 45–60 %. The most common cause for cervical spine injuries are traffic accidents in modern industrial nations. While the frequency of traffic accidents decreases, the frequency of cervical spine injuries in older people increases.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Kandziora F, Schnake K, Hoffmann R (2010a) Verletzungen der oberen Halswirbelsäule Teil 1: Ligamentäre Verletzungen, 2010, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, Unfallchirurg 113:931–943
Kandziora F, Schnake K, Hoffmann R (2010b) Verletzungen der oberen Halswirbelsäule Teil 2: Knöcherne Verletzungen, 2010, Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, Unfallchirurg 113:1023–1041
Tscherne H, Blauth M (eds.) Unfallchirurgie Wirbelsäule 1998, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Bühren V, Josten C (Hrsg.) (2013) Chirurgie der verletzten Wirbelsäule Frakturen, Instabilitäten, Deformitäten, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Harris JH, Carson GC, Wagner LK, Kerr N (1994) Radiologic diagnosis of traumatic occipitovertebral dissociation: 2. Comparison of three methods of detecting occipitovertebral relationships on lateral radiographs of supine subjects. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 162:887–892
Traynelis VC, Marano GD, Dunker RO, Kaufman HH (1986) Traumatic atlanto-occipital dislocation. Case report. J Neurosurg. 65:863–870.
Further Reading
Aebi M, Arlet V, Webb JK (2007) AO manual, vol 1 and 2. Thieme, Stuttgart/New York
Grauer JN, Shafi B, Hilibrand AS, Harrop JS, Kwon BK, Beiner JM, Albert TJ, Fehlings MG, Vaccaro AR (2005) Proposal of a modified, treatment-oriented classification of odontoid fractures. Spine J 5(2):123–129
Magerl F, Aebi M, Gertzbein SD, Harms J, Nazarian S (1994) A comprehensive classification of thoracic and lumbar injuries. Eur Spine J 3(4):184–201
Schwab JM, Brechtel K, Mueller CA, Failli V, Kaps HP, Tuli SK, Schluesener HJ (2006) Experimental strategies to promote spinal cord regeneration – an integrative perspective. Prog Neurobiol 78(2):91–116
Vaccaro AR, Lehman RA Jr, Hurlbert RJ, Anderson PA, Harris M, Hedlund R, Harrop J, Dvorak M, Wood K, Fehlings MG, Fisher C, Zeiller SC, Anderson DG, Bono CM, Stock GH, Brown AK, Kuklo T, Oner FC (2005) A new classification of thoracolumbar injuries: the importance of injury morphology, the integrity of the posterior ligamentous complex, and neurologic status. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 30(20):2325–2333
Vaccaro AR, Oner C, Kepler CK, Dvorak M, Schnake K, Bellabarba C, Reinhold M, Aarabi B, Kandziora F, Chapman J, Shanmuganathan R, Fehlings M, Vialle L, AOSpine Spinal Cord Injury & Trauma Knowledge Forum (2013) AOSpine thoracolumbar spine injury classification system: fracture description, neurological status, and key modifiers. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 38(23):2028–2037
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Setzer, M. (2015). Spinal Trauma. In: Hattingen, E., Weidauer, S., Setzer, M., Klein, J., Vrionis, F. (eds) Diseases of the Spinal Cord. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54209-1_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54209-1_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-54208-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-54209-1
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)