Sidi Mohammed Medjadi*

Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Aboubekr Belkaïd University, Tlemcen, Algeria

*Corresponding Author: Sidi Mohammed Medjadi, Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Aboubekr Belkaïd University, Tlemcen, Algeria.

Received: February 06, 2023; Published: February 15, 2023

Abstract

Objectives: The main objective of our work is to study the contribution of radiological imaging in the diagnosis and therapeutic decision in traumatized patients of the cervical spine.

Materials and Methods: We conducted an exhaustive descriptive-type study with prospective collection, carried out over a period of three and a half years at the level of several structures of the University Hospital of Tlemcen, namely the emergency service, multipurpose intensive care and neurosurgery departments. It focused on cervical spine trauma patients treated from the scene of the accident to the neurosurgery and / or medical-surgical resuscitation departments. All patients admitted for cervical spine trauma, whether superior (C0-C2), inferior (C3-C7) or mixed, whatever the mechanism of the accident, whatever the treatment decision, with or without neurological lesions, with or without signs of seriousness on admission and over 16 years of age.

Results: The majority of the injured (n = 107) benefited from a CT scan of the cervical spine at the University Hospital of Tlemcen (83.59%) upon admission, while 7.81% (n = 10) did so privately. 8.59% (n = 11) had their CT examination a few days after their hospitalization in the Neurosurgery department (7 at the central radiology unit of the university hospital of Tlemcen and 4 in an external radiology structure). The CT scan allowed us to accurately diagnose the osteoarticular lesion and to guide our therapeutic conduct. Of the 21 patients who presented spinal cord compression, 15 were of bone origin (11.71%), 4 of disc origin (3.12%) and two others of mixed origin (1.6%). A single vascular lesion of the vertebral artery was recorded during the study (1.6%). The damage to the recorded ligaments represented 7.81% with a frequency of ligament rupture of the order of 4.7% and a frequency of ligament elongation of the order of 3.12%. Spinal cord edema and intraspinal hematoma were successively around 6.25% and 2.34%.

Conclusion: In the acute phase of the trauma, it retains performance inferior to that of CS in the detection of minor bone lesions, but equivalent to dynamic maneuvers to search for instabilities of ligament origin access to the machine and the cost are far superior. In addition, the indication will have to be very carefully weighed in polytrauma patients because of the difficulties of monitoring during this sometimes very long examination and the need to use equipment resistant to magnetic fields (respirator, etc.). The scanner therefore remains the most effective technique for detecting but also formally eliminating a traumatic lesion.

Keywords: Cervical Spine Trauma; CT Scan; MRI; Tlemcen

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Citation

Citation: Sidi Mohammed Medjadi. “Contribution of Radiological Imaging in the Management of Cervical Spine Trauma”.Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 7.3 (2023): 117-122.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Sidi Mohammed Medjadi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.