Radiological protocol in spinal trauma: literature review and Spinal Cord Society position statement.
P K Karthik YelamarthyHarvinder Singh ChhabraVedant VakshaYatish AgarwalAnita AgarwalKalidutta DasHans Joseph ErliMihir BapatRoop SinghDarshan GautamRushama TandonG BalamuraliSriram RajanPublished in: European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society (2019)
For imaging cervical and thoracolumbar spine trauma patients, CT without contrast is generally considered to be the initial line of imaging and radiographs are required if CT is unavailable or unaffordable. CT screening in polytrauma cases is best done with a multidetector CT by utilizing the reformatted images obtained when scanning the chest, abdomen, and pelvis (CT-CAP). MRI is indicated in cases with neurological involvement and advanced cervical degenerative changes and to determine the extent of soft tissue injury, i.e., disco-ligamentous injuries as well as epidural space compromise. MRI is also usually performed when X-rays and CT are unable to correlate with patient symptomatology. These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.