Frequency and pattern of cervical spine injuries at Liaquat university hospital Jamshoro - a retrospective study of three years

Objective: to find out the frequency and patterns of cervical spine injuries at liaquat university hospital jamshoro and to compare it with other studies. study design: retrospective descriptive study. place and duration of study: department of neurosurgery,liaquat university jamshoro,from september 2005 to august 2008. patients and methods: the records of 46 patients between 13-70 years age presenting with cervical spine injuries were included. after resuscitation all the patients underwent thorough neurological examination. cervical spine x-rays and mri advised. the retrieved data was collected on proforma. frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical data,whereas mean and sd were calculated for numerical data. results: out of 46 patients 39 were males,7 patients were females. mean age was 33 years (range 13-70 years). majority (43.47%) of patients sustained injuries due to fall from height. six (13.64%) patients sustained c1-c2 injuries,while rest of patients had lower cervical injury between c3-t1. radiological studies showed vertebral body fracture with subluxation in 21 (45.6%) patients whereas only subluxation without fracture was observed in 10 (21.73%) patients. about 12 (26.08%) patients developed vertebral body fracture after injury,while 3 (6.51%) patients had only neurological cord injury without any bony or ligamentous injury. about 31 (67.39%) patients sustained incomplete cord injury while 15 (32.60%) patients had complete cord injury. conclusion: majority of patients sustained cervical spine injuries after fall. cervical spine injuries are common in young adult males. subluxation associated with vertebral body fractures is the most common injury pattern.