CONTRIBUTION OF COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IMAGING IN CERVICAL SPINE TRAUMA

Abstract

● Morbidity and mortality resulting from cervical spine injury depend on the mechanism of injury and its level . They are higher in case of higher levels of cervical spine injury, and the craniocervical junction injuries have the highest mortality. ● The fracture predictivity of standard radiograph is low when the severity of the cervical injury is high, and MDCT has replaced radiography as the initial imaging modality with much higher sensitivity to evaluate suspected cervical spine injuries.● Multidetector CT provides a faster and more comprehensive display of spinal anatomy than does radiography.● CT was used as a problem-solving tool for inadequately shown segments of the spine, typically the craniocervical and cervicothoracic junctions.● Protocols that are based on imaging the whole cervical spine, allow for multiplanar display, two and three dimensional reformats by using reformatted images from the axial data set. ● Previously, the most commonly used classifications of cervical fractures were those of Allen-Ferguson (68) and the AO. More recently, the SLIC classification (69) has added neurological status as another factor to consider.