Cervical spine injuries from motor vehicle accidents

Author

Yoganandan, Narayan ; Maiman, Dennis J. ; Pintar, Frank A. ; Sances, Anthony, Jr.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Neurosurg., Med. Coll. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

fYear

1989

Abstract

The objective of the study was to delineate the critical regions of the human cervical spine and determine the mechanisms of injury in motor vehicle accidents (MVA). The clinical data were gathered from patient records. Results indicated that while neck injuries in MVA are complex and can occur at any level of the cervical spine, the craniocervical junction (among fatalities) and the lower cervical spine (among survivors) were the most frequently injured. Among survivors with complete or incomplete quadriplegia, compression-flexion was the most common injury mechanism. However, rotation forces appeared to contribute to injury among nonparalyzing neck injuries

Keywords

accidents; biomechanics; bone; cervical spine injuries; clinical data; compression-flexion; craniocervical junction; critical regions; fatalities; human cervical spine; incomplete quadriplegia; injury mechanism; lower cervical spine; motor vehicle accidents; nonparalyzing neck injuries; patient records; rotation forces; survivors; Accidents; Biomechanics; Educational institutions; Hospitals; Humans; Injuries; Neck; Neurosurgery; Spinal cord; Vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1989. Images of the Twenty-First Century., Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in

Conference_Location

Seattle, WA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEMBS.1989.95992

Filename

95992