DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2013.v01i06.0104

Pages: 1155-1159

Background: Cervical spine injuries occur in 3% of blunt force trauma patients with the subaxial cervical spine being a common location within the cervical spine. Cervical spinal cord injuries represent 20–33% of total spinal injuries with the prevalence of the subaxial levels. Aim: This study aimed to evaluated outcome of operated subaxial cervical spine injuries. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in 60 patients admitted to at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh with subaxial cervical spine injuries admitted and operated from July 2011 to June 2012. The patients with subaxial cervical spine injuries with SLIC score ≥4, relative sagittal plane translation >3.5 mm, relative sagittal plane rotation >11 degrees, and/or 3 columns injury and two columns injury with neurological deficit were included. Patients medically unfit for surgery, operated through posterior approach, SLIC scores<3, and with single and two columns injury without neurological deficit, were excluded. Results: Sixty (60) patients were included in the study. In this study, 38.3% patients had compressive flexion followed by distractive flexion (250%), and vertical compression (20.0%), majority of fractures were type B (53.3%) followed by type C (43.3%), and type 1 (1.6%) fractures. Fracture was the most common injury (46.6%) followed by post-traumatic disc prolapse without significant bony injury (26.6%), pure subluxation (15.0%), and fracture dislocation (11.6%). Retropulsed fragment was present in 33.3% patients, 53.3% had ruptured disc, ALL and PLL was intact in 61.6% and 11.6% patients respectively. 30.0% patients had no disability while 61.6% had mild disability. Only 10.0% patients had moderate disability. None of the patients had severe or complete disability. 68.3% were in Bridwell fusion grade 1 followed by 30.0% in grade 2, and 1.6% in grade 3. Transient dysphagia was the only complication in 70.0% patients