[Injuries to the upper cervical medulla in severe brain injuries].

BACKGROUND: Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed in 250 patients who had been unconscious post-trauma for at least 24 hours. The frequency and the characteristics of injuries to the upper cervical myelon were determined.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 1996 and 2009, MRI was carried out within 8 days of trauma.

RESULTS: No lesions of the upper cervical medulla were found without accompanying damage to the medulla oblongata. Two groups were found to have a lesion in the upper cervical myelon. (i) In 3.2 % of the patients in a state of deep coma MRI revealed lesions in the entire brain stem. These died without waking from coma. (ii) 2 % of the patients were found to have additional damage to the distal medulla oblongata. These victims of high-speed traumas awoke from coma after 2-3 days. They revealed frontal contusions of the brain and traumatic subarachnoidal hemorrhages. Injuries to the bony upper cervical spine and/or the skull base were frequent. Four of them died, one patient survived with severe disabilities.

CONCLUSION: Two types of lesions involving the upper cervical myelon could be differentiated, both of which occur only in association with lesions in the medulla oblongata.