Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T McSweeney.
There has been a world-wide increase in serious neck injuries. Better understanding of the altered physiology of spinal man, and the employment of the appropriate supportive measures, has led to a lessening in morbidity. These general measures and the indications for surgery are discussed.
Ten cases of post-traumatic paraplegia are described in whom syringomyelia symptoms have supervened. Five patients have been operated upon after investigation. Operative results have been encouraging. A discussion of likely pathogenetic mechanisms is presented.
A retrospective study of seven patients referred to a spinal injury unit following surgery for thoracic disc prolapse is presented. Early diagnosis and increased awareness of the condition followed by lateral rhachotomy or anterolateral decompression is essential if the former dismal prognosis is to be improved.
Clinically silent cervicodorsal fracture may occur following upper-thoracic injury in the presence of a characteristic buckling injury to the sternum. Failure to recognise the association may result in gross kyphotic deformity. Three examples are provided, illustrating the role of radiology in the management of this complex traumatic lesion.
An 18-month-old child was rendered tetraplegic below C6 in a road traffic accident. There was an associated fracture-dislocation of the atlanto-axial joint. Early management, and the probable role of autonomic dysreflexia in increasing the neurological deficit are considered.
This paper describes seven patients who developed late vertebral deformity after flexion injuries of the cervical spine. In four the clinical and radiological features were subtle and because the patients walked into an emergency department the severity of the injury was not initially appreciated. Certain specific clinical and radiological features of flexion injury are described and emphasis is placed on the importance of correct management. A radiological tetrad is described which should alert the surgeon to the possibility of damage to the posterior interspinous complex of the cervical spine and so lead to further radiological investigations. Despite the frequency of flexion injuries the alarming complications described in this paper are rare.
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The occurrence of cranial nerve palsies in cervical injuries is described in eight patients. The clinical features were dramatic and usually presented soon after injury, the most common picture being that of a bulbar palsy, with acute respiratory distress and dysphagia. Neurologic recovery, both from cranial nerve palsies and motor and sensory deficits, was substantial in all instances, suggesting that brain-stem ischaemia due to vertebral artery spasm or compression had been a factor in their causation. Alternatively, differential movement between the base of the skull and the upper part of the cervical spine at the time of injury could have caused an extracranial injury to the lower cranial nerves.
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