CERVICAL SPINAL INJURIES IN MODERATE TO SEVERE HEAD INJURIES
Abstract
Background: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death in all age group. Theincidence of CSI increases with the severity of TBI so prompt care of cervical spine is necessary in allpatients with moderate to severe head injury. The objective of this study was to determine thefrequency of cervical injury in patients with moderate to severe head injury and different types oftrauma. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in department of NeurosurgeryAyub Medical College, Abbottabad from October 2011 to October 2012. A total of 369 patients wereincluded in this study by consecutive (non probability) sampling. All patients were subjected to X-raysand CT-Scan of the skull for evaluation of head injury. X-rays and CT scan with MRI of cervical spinewere done for evaluation of cervical spinal injury. Results: A total of 369 patients were included in ourstudy, out of which 276 (74.8%) were males and 93 (25.2%) were females. Age of the patients rangedfrom 3–90 years with mean of 31.93±21.35. Among these patients most common cause of injury wasfall 196 (53.1%), whereas the RTA was 159 (43.1%) and assault was 14 (3.8%). Out of the 369 patients42 (11.3%) were found to have cervical spinal injuries. Conclusion: The frequency of cervical injuryassociated with moderate to severe head injury remains the same in all over the world with minordifference in percentages; that we have observed in our study. Furthermore, we have observed thatcervical injury is directly proportional to the severity of head injury. All the head injured patients shouldbe suspected of having cervical spinal injury unless proved otherwise.Keywords: spinal injury, cervical injury, head injury.References
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