Citation

Charalampidis A, Fehlings MG. Neurosurgery 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Division of Neurosurgery, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Congress of Neurological Surgeons)

DOI

10.1093/neuros/nyz537

PMID

31814029

Abstract

Upper cervical spine trauma (UCST) consists of a heterogeneous group of traumatic injuries that involve the skull base, the atlas, and the axis, and is typically the result of high-energy trauma. Although many classification systems have been proposed over the years to facilitate treatment options for this diverse group of injuries, none have achieved universal acceptance due to different limitations and drawbacks such as lack of reliability, accuracy, and clinical relevance. Given the need for a common classification system that can be used as a “universal language” among health care practitioners, the AOSpine Knowledge Forum Trauma recently proposed the “New Upper Cervical Classification system,” which aimed to standardize care in this challenging group of injuries. This system follows similar rules as classifications previously proposed by the AO Spine.

The authors7 of this paper investigated the reliability of the new AO Upper Cervical Classification System (UCSS) proposed by the AOSpine Knowledge Forum Trauma. A total of 32 consecutive patients from a single institutional database having UCST, as well as complete radiological evaluation (computed tomography scans), and treated either nonoperatively (n = 16) or operatively (n = 16) were retrospectively reviewed by 8 researchers (4 residents and 4 surgeons) at 2 different time points with a minimum of 4-wk between each assessment.

A key finding of this study was the high level of agreement for injury site and injury type ...

Language: en