[Irreducible fracture dislocation of the cervical vertebrae. Patho-anatomical study using frozen sections]

A young patient with tetraplegia resulting from an unstable and irreducible fracture dislocation of the lower cervical spine unexpectedly died from an intercurrent gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Following routine autopsy the whole, intact cervical spine was frozen in situ, tomographed in the lateral projection and sectioned through on a heavy duty cryomicrotome with use of a newly modified technique. Detailed analysis of 50 sections revealed, among other things, that a fragment from the lacerated intervertebral disc had become impinged between the body of a vertebra and the spinal cord constituting the hindrance to reduction. No obstacle to reduction was seen at the level of the facet joints.