Man Survives 'Hangman's Fracture' After Crash

A young man in Tunisia who turned into in a high-pace crash suffered a damaged neck — in aninjury medical doctors name a "hangman's fracture" — but recovered and not using a lingeringproblems, in keeping with a current record of the person's case.

A "hangman's fracture" refers to a neck damage that takes place while a person's neck snaps backwards, as it'd at some stage in a striking.

And even though the call refers to an act this is a ways much less common today than it oncebecame, the harm itself isn't always surprisingly uncommon: Dr. Anis Khelifi, who become an orthopedic healthcare professional on the Kassab Orthopedic Institute in Tunisia when he dealt with the patient, stated he is visible this sort of fracture two times. [Here's a Giant List of the Strangest Medical Cases We've Covered]

The fracture takes place within the 2d cervical vertebra (in different words, the second one-from-the-pinnacle vertebra of the spine), and is the second most common sort of fracture for this vertebra, Khelifi informed live science.

After the automobile crash, which befell in August 2012, the 25-year-antique man came to the emergency room in excessive ache, according to the quick file of the person's case, whichbecame published these days (can also three) inside the New England journal of medicine.

The doctors examined the person and concluded that the crash had now not damaged his spinal wire, in line with the record. Spinal cord damage can lead to paralysis, and if the harm isexcessive, it is able to motive dying, Khelifi said.

to test for spinal cord harm, the docs did a neurological examination, such as checking to see ifthe person had any weakness in his hands or legs and if he ought to sense a light contact or pinprick on his pores and skin, in step with the document.

even though the person hadn't damaged his spinal cord, the medical doctors concluded that hisharm was "unstable," Khelifi stated. In other phrases, there was a risk the damage would get worse and reason extra damage.

the person underwent surgery to stabilize the harm, and he completely recovered. 4 years after the injury and surgical treatment, he became pain-unfastened and had no neurologicalproblems, in line with the record.