Cervical Spine Fracture-Dislocation

Traumatic cervical spine injuries are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. They should be expected after any high-energy injury and are often seen in the multiply injured patient. Failure of the cervical spine can occur with bony injury (fracture), ligamentous injury (leading to a dislocation) or a combination of both (fracture-dislocation). Due to the unique anatomy of the articulation of the head with the cervical spine, cervical injuries are separated into occipito-cervical (occiput to C2) and subaxial (C3–7) injuries. This chapter considers the assessment and surgical treatment of fracture-dislocations of the subaxial spine.