[Computerized tomography in the acute diagnosis of spinal injuries]

Additional to conventional x-ray examinations, high-resolution CT has a greater impact on the diagnostic evaluation of severe spine injuries. It allows exact judgment of the condition of vertebral arch, articular processes, joints and spinal axis and therefore a better delineation of the stability or instability of spinal fractures. Intraspinal fracture of spinal stenosis and intra or paraspinal soft tissues lesions are much more easily detected. For this reasons CT-evaluation of severe spinal traumata permits earlier, much more precise and in many cases successful therapy.