@article{ref1,
title="Incidence of blunt cerebrovascular injury in low-risk cervical spine fractures",
journal="American journal of surgery",
year="2011",
author="Kopelman, Tammy R. and Leeds, Steven and Berardoni, Nicole E. and O'Neill, Patrick J. and Hedayati, Poya and Vail, Sydney J. and Pieri, Paola G. and Feiz-Erfan, Iman and Pressman, Melissa A. Singer",
volume="202",
number="6",
pages="684-689",
abstract="BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that specific cervical spine fractures (CSfx) (location at upper cervical spine [CS], subluxation, or involvement of the transverse foramen) are predictive of blunt cerebrovascular injury (BCVI). We sought to determine the incidence of BCVI with CSfx in the absence of high-risk injury patterns. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study in patients with CSfx who underwent evaluation for BCVI. The presence of recognized CS risk factors for BCVI and other risk factors (Glasgow coma score ≤ 8, skull-based fracture, complex facial fractures, soft-tissue neck injury) were reviewed. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on the presence/absence of risk factors. RESULTS: A total of 260 patients had CSfx. When screened for high-risk pattern of injury for BCVI, 168 patients were identified and 13 had a BCVI (8%). The remaining 92 patients had isolated low CSfx (C4-C7) without other risk factors for BCVI. In this group, 2 patients were diagnosed with BCVI (2%). Failure to screen all patients with CSfx would have missed 2 of 15 BCVIs (13%). CONCLUSIONS: We propose that all CS fracture patterns warrant screening for BCVI.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0002-9610",
doi="10.1016/j.amjsurg.2011.06.033",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amjsurg.2011.06.033"
}