BACKGROUND Vertebral artery injury (VAI) after blunt cervical trauma occurs more frequently than historically believed. The symptoms due to vertebral artery (VA) occlusion usually manifest within the first 24 hours after trauma. Misdiagnosed VAI or delay in diagnosis has been reported to cause acute deterioration of previously conscious and neurologically intact patients. CASE PRESENTATION A ...

In order to minimize the amount of ionizing radiation to which young trauma patients are subjected, a cervical spine clearance project was implemented. The aim was to increase the number of pediatric trauma patients clinically cleared and decrease the number of such patients undergoing cervical spine CT imaging when they met clinical clearance criteria. To accomplish the goals, a brief educatio...

Objective: One of the most frequent causes of death and acquired disability in the pediatric population is the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). TBI is secondary to falls, road traffic and vehicle collisions, child abuse and assaults. Penetrating brain injury is a severe form of traumatic brain injury. Blunt head injury is more frequent than TBI in children, but the second one carries a poor progno...

Injuries to the cervical spine occur in 2.0 to 6.6% of blunt trauma patients, with the co-existence of head injury increasing the incidence of cervical spine injury to 10%. Injury to the cervical spinal cord in the absence of fracture occurs in 0.07 to 0.7% of trauma admissions. Missed or delayed diagnosis of cervical spine injury occurs in 4 to 8% of patients, whereas for the whole spine, miss...

Hypopharyngeal perforation following minor trauma: a case report and literature review c A rare complication of non-penetrating blunt neck trauma, hypopharyngeal perforation is mainly reported in association with high velocity road traffic accidents. The proposed injury mechanism is neck hyperextension associated with airway closure due to cervical compression against the steering wheel. Low ve...

Injuries of the vertebral artery are rare and are usually seen after penetrating or blunt cervical trauma. Vertebral artery injuries (VAI) have been reported in 0.5% of blunt trauma cases. These injuries can lead to hemorrhage, thrombosis, arteriovenous fistula or traumatic pseudoaneurysm in the early or late period. They must be treated carefully due to their increased risk of morbidity and mo...

We describe the case of a trauma patient who presented to our emergency department with signs and symptoms suggestive of cervical cord injury. The patient had an underlying ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament with multiple cervical disc prolapses from C3 to C7. The presence of these two factors increased the impact of the traumatic cervical cord injury. The patient underwent spi...

Cognitive appraisals of the trauma play a key role in children’s adjustment following a traumatic event, but how these appraisals develop is not well understood. Cognitive models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suggest that social support is a key influence on the development of appraisals, and we aimed to explore this relationship further. As predicted by cognitive models of PTSD...