Evaluation

How will my fracture be evaluated?

Different types of fracture patterns relate both to the mechanism of injury and to the stability of the injury and therefore the prognosis. Evaluation of a neck injury begins with getting an account of the accident that caused it and reconstructing the forces that acted on the neck. This information may help to understand what type of injury to the cervical spine may have occurred.

A series of x-rays are taken. It is now common to do a CT scan of the spine if there has been a fracture or if there is a high index of suspicion for fracture. THE CT scan is more sensitive and may show fractures no seen on plain x-rays. If there is neurological injury or suspicion of intervertebral disc injury then an MRI is often done.

A careful physical examination is done to find any neurological problems. This helps to establish the completeness and level of the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) if there is one. If the exam does not correlate well with the x-rays then further x-rays may be needed to rule out spine injuries at more than one level. If the patient has sustained multiple injuries, these must be evaluated and treated as well.