Cervical teardrop fracture

Mechanism and manifestations

Flexion-compression injury may include major disc-ligament damage and cord injury. An extension avulsion is a different mechanism; sharing a descriptive name does not make them equivalent.

Diagnosis and management

CT, MRI when indicated and neurological assessment determine severity. Immobilization and specialist advice are needed; some patterns require surgical stabilization. Manual treatment must not precede exclusion of instability.

Points to consider

After trauma, pain intensity and injury severity are not always proportional. Mechanism, level, neurological status and stability guide care. New weakness, sensory loss, breathing difficulty or impaired walking requires urgent assessment.

Role of TAGMED care

With acute symptoms, urgent hospital assessment takes priority. This condition first requires medical diagnosis and, depending on the situation, specialist management. TAGMED services do not replace treatment of infection or tumor, stabilization of an unstable injury, or neurological or vascular treatment. Any conservative support should be considered only after diagnosis, restrictions and the treating team’s recommendations have been clarified.

Related concepts and distinctions

These concepts belong to the same field, but are not synonyms.

• Hangman fracture — Bilateral fracture through the C2 pars region, sometimes associated with C2–C3 displacement and disc-ligament injury.
• Cervical facet dislocation — Loss of normal alignment at one or both cervical facet joints, usually traumatic and often associated with substantial instability.
• Odontoid fracture — Fracture of the axis dens, classified partly by fracture location and potentially compromising upper cervical stability.

Medical references

1. AO Foundation. AO Surgery Reference — Occipitocervical trauma.
2. AO Spine. AO Spine classification systems.

References document the topic; their inclusion does not imply endorsement of TAGMED services by those organizations.