Abstract
A series of 257 cases of acute injury to the cervical spine and spinal cord is analysed to determine the incidence of late instability following conservative management.
When those cases were eliminated in which early surgery was performed, and those in which there was no possibility of late instability, there remained 160 cases which were treated conservatively. In these cases there was a 7.5 per cent. incidence of late instability.
The series is analysed in relation to each mechanico-anatomical lesion of the spine. In all the main groups, except one, the late instability rate was between 4.8 and 7.3 per cent. The exception was the anterior subluxations, in which four out of nineteen cases (21 per cent.) showed late instability. The mechanism of this lesion and its treatment are discussed.
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Cheshire, D. The stability of the cervical spine following the conservative treatment of fractures and fracture-dislocations. Spinal Cord 7, 193–203 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1969.31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.1969.31
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