TY - JOUR TI - A pilot study of bone scintigraphy in the evaluation of spinal injuries in aircraft accidents AU - Vasishta,VG AU - Pinto,L J AU - Gambhir,S AB - Earlier studies have shown that 26-30% of successful ejections result in spinal injuries. Currently, the protocol for evaluation of spinal injuries includes immediate X ray of the whole spine followed by CT/MRI within six weeks. This protocol not only fails in dating the trauma - whether recent or old - but also, is not sensitive enough to pick up minor traumas such as contusions of the vertebral bodies. Bone Scan (BS) carried out in such cases provides information concerning both these aspects of bone injury. The present work is based on the evaluation at IAM of 18 ejections in which bone scan was carried out in addition to X-ray and CT/MRI examination. The study revealed that in two cases there were additional injuries, which had evaded detection during earlier examination, and in two other cases the injury detected by CT/MRI was found to be due to previous trauma and not caused by the present ejection. The studies strongly suggest that bone scanning be incorporated as a necessary part of the standard protocol in the evaluation of ejection spinal injury. VL - 47 T2 - Indian Journal of Aerospace Medicine JO - Indian Journal of Aerospace Medicine J2 - Indian Journal of Aerospace Medicine SN - 0970-6666 SN - 2582-5348 ER -