Table 1: Frequent problems with imaging methods

Common problems

• The imaging is focused on a wrong soinal segment due to incorrect neurological staging
• additional fractures are missed

Conventional X-ray imaging

• fractures of the cervico-thoracic transition are missed because the 7th cervical vertebra is not properly demonstrated

CT-scans

• missing topogramm
• gap between the scans too wide (especially in the C-spine)
• no softtissue window generated

CT- and MRI-scans

• elaborate reconstruction yielding no additional information