FRIDAY, Sept. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Secondary cervical spine injuries can be missed by radiography alone, but computerized tomography (CT) can help locate such injuries, according to a report in the Sept. 7 online edition of Annals of Emergency Medicine.
William Mower, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles Emergency Medicine Center looked at 818 patients from NEXUS, the National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study, which includes patients from 21 radiography centers in the United States. They identified 224 patients with specific index injuries that were diagnosed with plain film radiography. Such index spinal injuries are thought to be unlikely to be associated with secondary cervical spine injuries, and CT scans are not recommended in these cases, the authors note.
A review of the data showed that 81 of the 224 patients, or 36.2%, had secondary injuries undetected by plain radiography. Of these, an additional 27.2% (22 patients) had a noncontiguous spinal injury.
The study suggests that the "guidelines regarding necessity for CT scanning in such patients should be reconsidered," the authors conclude.
Abstract
Full Text (payment may be required)
