Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to cervical spine injury by uncertain trauma: A study of two cases

Abstract

Cervical spinal cord injury is a well-known cause of cardiac arrest in trauma victims. Unless trauma is definitively suspected, emergency medical services teams perform resuscitation in the pre-hospital stage without cervical spine immobilization. During advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS), intubation with cervical spinal immobilization causes difficulty in accessing the airway, thus, immobilization tends to not be performed, unless the patient is a clear case of trauma. We report two patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) due to cervical fractures that have occurred without clear trauma. In these cases, pre-existing cervical spine lesions was additional informed and identification of the cervical spine fractures was delayed. Emergency medical physicians tend to neglect cervical spine injury when the likelihood of trauma is unclear in a patient presenting with OHCA. These cases urge physicians to consider the possibility of cervical spinal injuries, even in cases of minor trauma. If there is a possibility of cervical spinal injury, imaging should not be delayed and should be followed by appropriate treatment.