CERVICAL INJURY IN HEAD TRAUMA

0 Abstract-Criteria for excluding cervical spine injury in patients who have sustained blunt head or neck trauma were prospectively studied at four hospitals in the Chicago area. The authors attempted to define a subset of these adult patients who, based on clinical criteria, could reliably he excluded from cervical spine radiography, thus avoiding unnecessary radiation and saving considerable time and money in their evaluation. Patients fell into four groups: (1) patients who were awake, alert, and had no complaint of neck pain or tender-ness on physical examination; (2) patients who were awake, alert, but had complaint of neck pain or tenderness on physical examination laterally over the trapezius muscle on-ly; (3) patients who were awake, alert, but had complaint of central neck pain or tenderness on physical examinatio