Why you should wear your seatbelt on an airplane: Burst fracture of the atlas (jefferson fracture) due to in-flight turbulence.

ABSTRACT: The Jefferson fracture is a burst-type fracture to the atlas first described in 1919, characterized by anterior and posterior fractures of the weak C1 ring caused by a sudden axial load to the vertex of the skull. Here we report a Jefferson fracture caused by head trauma due to mid-flight turbulence in an unrestrained 56-year-old male airline passenger. Imaging revealed a comminuted burst fracture of the atlas with an avulsion fracture of the transverse atlantal ligament. The patient was treated conservatively in a Miami-J collar with close clinical and radiographic follow-up. Lateral flexion-extension radiographs demonstrated fracture stability, and clinically the patient lacked pain or neurologic symptoms at 12 weeks from injury. To our knowledge this is the first report of a Jefferson f

SUBMITTER: Lekic N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6919349 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature