title: Upper cervical spine injuries in elderly patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Elderly patients may sustain upper cervical spine injury without neurological symptoms or radiographic evidence of fracture.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This review discusses the prevalence and presentations of upper cervical spine injury in the elderly, and the use of imaging in the evaluation of such injuries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Typically, upper cervical spine injuries are caused by hyperextension in patients with degenerative changes of the senescent spine. Multiplanar imaging of the cervical spine in elderly patients with persistent post-traumatic head and neck symptoms, even after seemingly minor trauma, is decisive.
authors.affiliation: Medical Center of Central Georgia, Macon, USA. mswalid@yahoo.com
authors.forename: M Sami
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Walid
authors.forename: Nadezhda V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Zaytseva
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries*; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D013124:Spinal Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy