Spinal trauma

Approximately 30,000 spinal injuries occur in the United States every year. Injuries to the spine and its contents affect predominately young, healthy individuals and are a major cause of disability, with significant socioeconomic consequences. The main cause for spinal injuries is blunt trauma, most commonly caused by motor vehicle accidents, followed by falls and sport injuries. Already, in the initial evaluation of patients who have blunt trauma, multislice CT with two-dimensional (and threedimensional) reformatting is the method of choice. The liberal use of MR imaging is recommended to assess for injuries to soft tissue, the spine and its contents, intervertebral discs, and ligaments.