Incidental Findings in the Cervical Spine at CT for Trauma Evaluation Medscape

Description: We identified incidental CT findings in 230 of 1,256 patients (18.3%) who underwent CT of the cervical spine during an initial trauma evaluation. We stratified the incidental findings as trauma-related and not trauma-related. The likelihood of non-trauma-related incidental findings was associated with age (p <0.0001). The likelihood of trauma-related incidental findings was associated with injury severity score (p <0.0001).
Conclusion: Incidental findings in the cervical spine were associated with age, injury severity score, and mechanism of injury. Awareness of the prevalence of incidental findings is important to assuring that both traumatic and nontraumatic pathologic findings are detected and appropriately managed.
Richard Barboza; Jason H. Fox; Lynn E. T. Shaffer; Judy M. Opalek; Shella Farooki Am J Roentgenol. 2009;192(3):725-729