Using Cervical spine CT Scan as the First Line of Diagnosis inManagement of Patients with Neck Trauma; a Letter to Editor

It seems that computed tomography (CT) scan, which does not have the limitations of plain cervicalspine radiography, can be considered as the first line modality in decision-making for patients with necktrauma and performing radiography can be omitted. The findings of the present study on 100 patientsover the age of 16 years with stable hemodynamics, who presented to a university affiliated trauma centerin Tehran, Iran, following multiple trauma indicated an overall agreement of 79% between radiographyand CT scan findings based on the calculation of kappa coefficient (p = 0.001). In addition, sensitivity ofradiography in detection of injuries in this study was estimated as 82% and its specificity was estimatedas 76%. It seems that the role of plain radiography in evaluation of neck traumas should be revised as ithas low accuracy, especially where CT scan is available