Arrow trauma to cervical spine

A 50-year-old man was the victim of an accidental arrow shooting while hunting. The arrow entered his posterolateral neck and came to rest in the space between the C1/C2 vertebrae in his cervical spine. He was able to maintain his own cervical immobilization. His hunting partners drove him to meet emergency medical technicians, who stabilized the arrow shaft, transferred him to a backboard and gurney, and continued manual cervical immobilization en route to a local hospital. Cervical spine X-ray results compelled an air ambulance transfer to a trauma center where he underwent surgical intervention to remove the arrow. Following approximately 12 months of physical and occupational therapy, he returned to work full-time. Adherence to training and utilization of proven techniques involving pre-hospital transfers and positioning of cervically injured patients proved imperative to the patient's ultimate recovery.