What to do if your cervical vertebra is fractured

$What to do if your cervical vertebra is fractured$

Although cervical vertebra fractures are not particularly common in life, they are quite harmful to patients. When cervical vertebra fractures occur, timely treatment is required. First of all, the airway must be kept open. In severe cases, a tracheotomy should be performed in time to avoid breathing difficulties in patients. During the treatment process, attention should be paid to the recovery of bone marrow function. While reducing pressure, the patient's edema should be eliminated as much as possible.

What to do if your cervical vertebra is fractured

1. Keep the airway open. The openness of the airway is of great significance, especially for those with complete spinal cord injury above the 5th cervical vertebra. Tracheotomy should be performed as soon as possible. 2. Restore the morphology of the spinal canal and the stability of the vertebral segments. First, restore the alignment of the spinal canal through non-surgical or surgical methods, so as to eliminate the compression of the spinal cord. At the same time, efforts should be made to ensure the stability of the damaged vertebrae to prevent or aggravate spinal cord injury. In addition to using traction therapy to immobilize the cervical spine, anterior or posterior surgical therapy can also be adopted as appropriate. 3. Removal of compression objects in the spinal canal Whenever CT or MRI examinations confirm that there are compression objects in the spinal canal, they should be removed as soon as possible and internal fixation should be performed at the same time. Anterior cervical approach is usually the most common approach. For some patients with severe conditions, posterior cervical fixation is also required. For those in poor general condition, the operation can be postponed.

4. Promote the recovery of spinal cord function. On the basis of decompression, eliminate spinal cord edema and traumatic reaction as soon as possible, and give neurotrophic agents and drugs to improve blood circulation. For patients with complete spinal cord injury, the focus should be on restoring and reconstructing hand function, including root decompression (the injured must have preserved wrist function) and tendon transfer surgery. 5. In late-stage cases with incomplete paralysis, the main focus is on removing the compressive objects that hinder further recovery of spinal cord function and reconstructing the function; while for patients with complete spinal cord injury, the main focus is on vertebral stabilization, prevention of complications and rehabilitation.

Commonly used drugs are:

(1) Antipyretic and analgesic drugs: Those with severe pain can take aspirin, indomethacin, antacid, tendon relaxant, and anti-inflammatory agent orally.

(ii) Vasodilators: such as nicotinic acid kallikrein, diltiazem, etc., can dilate blood vessels and improve blood supply to the spinal cord.

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