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Previous Volume 349:2553-2555 December 25, 2003 Number 26 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Clinicians currently order imaging studies for most patients with blunt head or neck trauma if there is even a remote possibility of cervical-spine injury, in order to avoid missing a potentially disabling fracture, dislocation, or ligamentous injury. The result of this practice is that 96 percent or more of cervical-spine radiographs reveal no clinically important injuries.^1,2 A decision rule, or clinical prediction rule, that could reliably identify patients with trauma who are at very low risk for cervical anatomical disruption could help reduce unnecessary radiographic testing, improve efficiency, and decrease health care expenditures that accompany testing.

In this issue of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.

Related Letters:

The Canadian C-Spine Rule
Mower W. R., Wolfson A. B., Hoffman J. R., Todd K. H., Hall F. M., Stiell I. G., Rowe B. H., Lee J.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2004; 350:1467-1469, Apr 1, 2004. Correspondence

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