• Eur Spine J · Aug 2008

    Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study

    Are early MRI findings correlated with long-lasting symptoms following whiplash injury? A prospective trial with 1-year follow-up.

    • Alice Kongsted, Joan S Sorensen, Hans Andersen, Bjarne Keseler, Troels S Jensen, and Tom Bendix.
    • The Back Research Center, Clinical Locomotion Science, Backcenter Funen, University of Southern Denmark, Ringe, Denmark. a.kongsted@nikkb.dk
    • Eur Spine J. 2008 Aug 1; 17 (8): 996-1005.

    AbstractNeck pain is the cardinal symptom following whiplash injuries. The trauma mechanism could theoretically lead to both soft tissue and bone injury that could be visualised by means of MRI. From previous quite small trials it seems that MRI does not demonstrate significant tissue damage. Large prospectively followed cohorts are needed to identify possible clinically relevant MRI findings. The objective of this trial was to evaluate (1) the predictive value of cervical MRI after whiplash injuries and (2) the value of repeating MRI examinations after 3 months including sequences with flexion and extension of the cervical spine. Participants were included after rear-end or frontal car collisions. Patients with fractures or dislocations diagnosed by standard procedures at the emergency unit were not included. MRI scans of the cervical spine were performed at baseline and repeated after 3 months. Clinical follow-ups were performed after 3 and 12 months. Outcome parameters were neck pain, headache, neck disability and working ability. A total of 178 participants had a cervical MRI scan on average 13 days after the injury. Traumatic findings were observed in seven participants. Signs of disc degeneration were common and most frequent at the C5-6 and C6-7 levels. Findings were not associated with outcome after 3 or 12 months. The population had no considerable neck trouble prior to the whiplash injury and the non-traumatic findings represent findings to be expected in the background population. Trauma-related MRI findings are rare in a whiplash population screened for serious injuries in the emergency unit and not related to a specific symptomatology. Also, pre-existing degeneration is not associated with prognosis.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…