Abstract
Cervical vertebral fracture with spinal cord injury is a potentially lethal form of trauma. However, in cases of polytrauma, a cervical vertebral fracture might be missed, or diagnosed only later. Here, using postmortem computed tomography (PMCT), we investigated the possible presence of cervical vertebral fractures in patients transferred to us because of traumatic cardiopulmonary arrest. Radiological investigation was performed on 74 such patients between March 2005 and March 2012. PMCT was done in 68 of the 74 patients (51 males and 17 females; average age 55.8 years). Parameters investigated included the mechanism of injury, cause of death, use or non-use of cervical spine CT, use or non-use of cervical multi planar reconstruction (MPR), and presence of cervical spine injury. The most common cause of injury was traffic accidents, followed by falls. Cause of death was obtained from the death certificate diagnosis; traumatic shock accounted for the majority of cases. Cervical MPR was performed in 37 cases; only axial in 15 cases. Cervical CT was not available in 16 cases. Cervical spine injury was apparent in 11 cases, and in 7 cases there was a possibility that cervical spine trauma was involved in the cause of death. In traumatic CPA, as cervical spinal injury may not be properly diagnosed, further investigation is considered necessary.
