Study on Cervical Spine Trauma in Elderly Patients in the Emergency Outpatient Department

Abstract

In cases of cervical spine trauma in elderly patients, specific problems have been pointed out as the number of cases of cervical spine injury, spinal cord injury, or both increases. In this study, we surveyed 801 elderly cases aged 65 years old or older from among 5,836 cases of cervical spine trauma that visited our hospital's emergency outpatient department. A disturbance of consciousness, severe head injury, extremity-pelvic fracture, and distracting pain in another region were respectively observed in 21%, 15%, 16%, and 27% of the cases. Moreover, cervical spine injury, spinal cord injury, or both were observed in 62 cases (7.7%), while cervical spinal cord injury without fracture or dislocation was observed in 24 cases (3.0%). Complications of spinal canal stenosis and OPLL were observed in a high proportion of both the cases of cervical spine injury, spinal cord injury, or both and cervical spinal cord injury without fracture or dislocation. The results of this study indicate the difficulty of clinically examining cervical spine trauma in elderly patients in the emergency outpatient department. In order to provide medical care for elderly cases of cervical spine trauma, it is necessary to understand both the unique traits of trauma in elderly patients and the characteristics of cervical spine injury, spinal cord injury, or both in elderly patients.