Mj. Johnson et Gl. Lucas, VALUE OF CERVICAL-SPINE RADIOGRAPHS AS A SCREENING TOOL, Clinical orthopaedics and related research, (340), 1997, pp. 102-108
A review of the reports of 848 cervical spine radiographs was done to
assess the yield of useful and critical information in a group of pati
ents without trauma. In 470 of these patients the clinical record also
was reviewed; 54.2% of the radiographs were read as having degenerati
ve change, 35% were read as normal, and 8.5% were read as being consis
tent with muscle spasm. The remaining 2.3% included diagnoses of anato
mic or congenital variants, soft tissue calcification, or old compress
ion fractures. There were no serious diagnoses such as acute fracture,
dislocation, or neoplasm that, had they not been identified, would ha
ve put the patient in jeopardy. Thus, for most outpatients with nontra
umatic symptoms of a nonspecific or nonlocalizing nature, the use of c
ervical spine radiographs as a screening tool is not justified.