Cervical spine injury: how easy to miss!

ABSTRACT

Acute injuries of the cervical spine are not uncommonly missed on the initial examination. In a study of 48 patients of acute injury of the cervical spine, the diagnosis was missed initially in 8 patients. The common reasons for missed diagnosis had been, head injury in 3 patients, polytrauma in 2, inadequate or improper radiologic examination in 2 and erroneous diagnosis in one case. Neurologic status was worsened in one patient because of delayed diagnosis.