ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses cervical spine trauma with respect to surgical anatomy, injury classification, diagnosis and management. The spectrum of cervical spine trauma varies from minor ligamentous damage to overt osteo-ligamentous instability and spinal cord injury. The cervical spine is injured in roughly 2-3 per cent of all cases of blunt trauma, following a bimodal age distribution the first peak is seen in the second and third decades in male patients, and the second occurs in the elderly female population. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is useful in determining the extent of any spinal cord or soft tissue injury. In cases of fracture subluxation/dislocation with an incomplete spinal cord injury, MRI is essential to determine the amount of disc in the spinal canal. In the case of a unilateral or bilateral facet fracture subluxation/dislocation with no vertebral body fracture, the operative technique depends on the presence or absence of disc fragments in the spinal canal.
