الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Trauma is the forgotten epidemic and the neglected disease of modern society. The management of poly-trauma patients is a complex process requires broad knowledge, sound judgment and leader capabilities.
Although spine fractures represent only a minority in all trauma patients, their influence on the patients’ social and financial environment is more significant than other injuries. Spine and spinal related injuries, which are common after traumatic injuries have a low functional outcome and the lowest rates of return to work after injury among all major organ systems and with remaining pain, can result in a persistent loss of function that may lead to the development of chronic complications over time or even death usually resulting from pneumonia, pulmonary emboli, or septicemia.
The aim of this study is to report the incidence rate of traumatic spinal fractures, to detect the mechanism of spine fractures and any associated injuries.
The present study is a prospective study. It was performed on patients admitted to the Emergency Department of the Alexandria Main University Hospital for a period of six months suffered from trauma and had vertebral fractures with incidence of 3.8% among all trauma patients.
In this study 50 patients subjected to trauma suffered from vertebral fractures. In the present study it was observed that the majority of injured victims who had vertebral fractures were in the age group of 21- 40 years.
Regarding gender distribution there were 38 males (76%) and 12 females (24%) where male to female ratio was 3: 1.
Falls was the most common cause of injury in our study followed by Road traffic accidents (RTA).
A three view spine series [lateral (dynamic), antero-posterior, and odontoid views] supplemented by CT scan is effective in ruling out bony injuries while MRI is useful in patients with neurologic symptoms but negative radiography and CT imaging to assess spinal cord and soft tissue injuries.
During plain radiography, the vertebral fractures were apparent in 32 patients (64%) while they were not apparent in 18 patients (36%), while the vertebral fractures were apparent in all patients in CT scan.
As regard the different methods of management in this study; 32% of patients were treated conservatively, 54% underwent surgical instrumentation. Mortality rate among the studied group was 14%.
There is improvement in the neurologic state of the patients using the ASIA scale on admission and on discharge. There is better functional outcome in patients who underwent surgical instrumentation.