Cranio-Cervical Dissociation (MRI), Marked with Arrows

Rights Managed

SS2511428

BV4879

This T2 weighted sagittal (from the side) image of the cervical spine in a subject who was in a high speed motor vehicle collision demonstrates disruption of the ligaments where the upper neck joins the skull base, resulting in a physical separation of the upper neck from the base of the skull. This severe injury usually results in death, but occasionally subjects do survive. The distraction and widening of the distance between the skull base and upper cervical spine is indicated by the short white arrow. The short double white arrows indicate disruption of the anterior longitudinal ligament and the long white arrows indicate disruption of the ligamentum flavum, interspinous and supraspinous ligaments and the posterior atlanto-occipital membrane.

Living Art Enterprises / Science Source