title: Occult ligamentous injury of the cervical spine.
abstract: Evaluating the cervical spine for injury is an essential part of the assessment of a traumatized patient. Clinical examination and radiographs are the traditional techniques used for this evaluation. Often, however, a reliable clinical examination is not possible because of head injury, altered mental status, or "distracting" injuries. In such cases, cervical spine injury that is not apparent on radiographs may be missed. This case report illustrates a purely ligamentous cervical spine injury resulting in cervical instability. We describe our method of screening for and evaluating these types of injuries using physician-controlled stretch, flexion, and extension examination under fluoroscopy.
authors.affiliation: Charity Hospital, and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans 70112, USA.
authors.forename: K Q
authors.initials: KQ
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D005471:Fluoroscopy; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D008023:Ligaments, Articular / Q000293:injuries*; D008297:Male; D009104:Multiple Trauma; D013124:Spinal Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*