The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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In cases of possible cervical spine injury, medical professionals must be prepared to achieve rapid airway access while concurrently restricting cervical spine motion. Face mask removal (FMR), rather than helmet removal (HR), is recommended to achieve this. However, no studies have been reported that compare FMR directly with HR. ⋯ It is safer to remove the face mask in the prehospital setting for the potential spine-injured American football player than to remove the helmet, based on results from both a traditional and newer football helmet designs. Deflating the air bladder inside the helmet does not provide an advantage.
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Knowing the side of the dominant vertebral artery (VA) may be of utmost importance if the VAs are at risk during spine surgery. Determination of the size of VAs is obtained by using Doppler ultrasonography or angiography. Because VA is the main anatomic structure occupying the transverse foramina (TF), it may be assumed that size of TF and blood flow of VAs should be proportional. ⋯ There was strong correlation between TF diameters and VA blood volume. Our results suggest that TF diameter of C6 level can be used to predict the side of the dominant VA reliably.