Missed Traumatic Cervical Spine Injury

Cervical spine injury occurs in 3% of blunt trauma patients, and 10% of patients with cervical spine injuries have an associated head injury. The early recognition of cervical spine injury and treatment of the secondary injury are important in the management of trauma patients. At the time of diagnosis of cervical spine injury, 5~30% of patients have been reported to have experienced missed or delayed diagnosis. Of these, 10.5~29% were associated with permanent and critical neurologic injury, for example, death, quadriplesia, ect. The writers experienced two cases of missed traumatic cervical spine injury.