[Cervical spine injuries in patients over 65 years old]

Cervical spine injuries in young adults are usually caused by high-energy trauma. However, a typical injury to the cervical spine can also occur in older patients, in whom it is often associated with the presence of osteoporosis and relatively low-energy trauma, similarly to distal radial or proximal femoral fractures, or fractures of the thoracolumbar spine. The aim of this study was to evaluate a group of elderly patients with cervical spine injuries treated at our department.

In the period from 2001 to 2005, 66 patients older than 65 years were treated for cervical spine injury at the Department of Spinal Surgery of the Motol University Hospital in Prague. Of these, the 53 patients treated surgically, and followed up longer than 6 months after surgery, were evaluated in detail in this retrospective study. They included 30 men and 23 women at an average age of 75.5 years (range, 65-92 years).

Conservative therapy was used to treat stable injuries to both the upper and the lower spine that were without risk of the development of secondary instability or deformity and that were not associated with neurological deficit. Surgery was performed in primary unstable injuries of the upper and lower spine or in injuries involving the risk of secondary instability or deformity, and also in all injuries associated with neurological deficit, when the patient's health state allowed for it. The final retrospective evaluation was made at 6 to 78 (average, 31.3) months after the primary operation. The evaluation included trauma etiology, type and level of injury, neurological findings, kind of treatment, complications and outcome.

In our group, 56 % of the patients were men, injury occurred due to a fall in 66 % and the upper cervical spine was affected in 60 % of the patients. Most of the upper cervical spine injuries happened to the patients over 75 years, and included fractures of the dens and complex atlantoaxial fractures. Neurological deficit was found in 37.7 % of the patients treated surgically, but only 7.5 % had a deficit classified as Frankel grade A or B. Of the 13 patients treated conservatively and the 53 patients treated surgically, two (15.4 %) and 15 (28.3 %) died, respectively.

The results of our study are in agreement with the relevant international literature data. Conservative treatment is used only in the patients in whom early mobilization, including standing and walking, is possible. In other patients, surgical treatment is preferred with the aim to achieve early mobilization without rigid external fixators, if possible. Surgery is carried out predominantly in patients with more serious injuries; therefore, mortality in our patients was nearly twice as high after surgery as after conservative treatment. Some surgical procedures were accompanied by minor complications usually associated with poor bone quality or poor health in general. Old patients with serious neurological deficit usually die of co-existent diseases regardless of the therapy used.

In patients older than 65 years, injuries to the upper cervical spine are usually caused by low-energy trauma. In this age category, neurological deficit is found more often than in younger patients and is typically manifested as a central cord syndrome.