Spinal injury resulting from car accident: Focus to prevention

Abstract

Aim:To determine and compare the patterns of spinal injury in car occupants.Materials and Methods:Retrospective cross-sectional study enrolling all patients with spinal fracture after car accidents, who were admitted to hospital more than 24 h during 2004–2009.Results:The lumbosacral spine was the most commonly involved region (64.8). Six patients had spinal cord injury (6.6%). The majority of the victims were drivers of the vehicle (86.8%) and remaining were passengers. There was a significant difference in lumbar anatomic region (P = 0.05) and place of accident (P = 0.05) in car occupants’ position (P = 0.05). Car rollover was the most common mechanism of spinal fractures. There was a significant difference in lumbar anatomic region (P = 0.05), and two or more associated organ injuries (P ≤ 0.05) in car accident mechanism (P = 0.05).Conclusion:The chance of sustaining serious spine and associated multiple injuries in car accidents is quite high in our today's society. This may be due to the low level of standards for car manufacturing, absence or inadequacy of appropriate safety measures in cars, and poorly designed roads and problems in quality of driving to mention some reasons. Therefore, these victims are prone to significant morbidity and even mortality and need more specific prehospital supportive interventions.

Traumatic spine injury in Kashan, Iran

“…that showed thoracolumbar spine was common area for fracture. Fakharian et al (9). Similar to result of This study, showed that lumbosacral spine was the most commonly involved region (64.8).…”

“…Different lifestyle and different regions within a country play a role in the mechanism of trauma (5). Fakharian et al (9) showed that car accident composed 29.9% of all traumatic spinal injuries. Fracture of lumbar vertebra was the most common cause of traumatic spinal injury (24.41%), but a study showed that TSI most common area was thoracolumbar spine fracture (46.9%) such Yousefzadeh et al (15).…”

“…Shahid Beheshti hospital is a referral teaching hospital in Kashan. Kashan is a city located in the central part of the Islamic republic of Iran with a population of about 500 000 and is among the crowded cities of Iran (9). This hospital is a trauma center which admits injured patients.…”

Epidemiologic Aspects of Spinal Cord Trauma Cases among Traffic Accident Victims

“…Regarding the SCT, the cervical region has also been described in other studies [7,9,11,43] as the most damaged skeletal level, includingafter motorcycle accidents [44]. Concerning accidents involving automobiles, injury in the lumbar region was predominant [12]. The thoracic region is the most affected when related to road accidents in general [45].…”

“…Traffic accidents are a major cause of SCT, which, according to Verma et al [9], are responsible for the occurrence of 66.4% of trauma in general, being the main cause of spinal injury [1,10,11]. These types of accidents increase the severity because they trigger associated trauma, more serious injuries and higher mortality [12], besides causing psychological problems such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and depression [13,14]. Thus they are a serious public health problem, being associated with economic consequences, disabilities, significant losses for the victim and all the family, influencing quality of life, and may lead to death [15].…”