Cervical spine injuries and management: experience with 235 patients in 10 years

During the past 10-year period 235 patients with cervical injury were included in this study. In this paper we present our clinical experiences in patients with cervical spine injury treated surgically and conservatively and their outcome. Only few data exist on the treatment of cervical spine injuries. The principles of the management are still controversial. The 235 patients with cervical spine injury admitted to our department were assessed with Frankel's grading scale and treated surgically and conservatively according to the type and level of the injury; 172 patients were treated surgically, and 63 patients were managed conservatively. The neurological state of the patients and the treatment modality are summarized in Table 1 and Table 2. In the upper cervical injury, except type II odontoid fracture with a dislocation of more than 6 mm, conservative treatment modalities were performed. In the lower cervical injury, an anterior approach with discectomy and anterior fusion were performed if there was spinal cord compression anteriorly. Otherwise a posterior approach with decompression and a variety of posterior fusion techniques were used.