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The first 25 slides, exactly as they appear. The full deck has 52 content slides.
Neuro Critical Care
10 Cervical Traction
Built from Jallo — Neurocritical Care Procedure Atlas
What’s inside
8 sections · 52 slides
Overview
- What this procedure is, in one breath
- How the deck is organised
Anatomy and Physiology
Why a straight cervical spine protects the cord
- The cervical spine: seven building blocks
- The subaxial spine (C3-C7) and its facet 'locks'
- Why misalignment is an emergency
- Three classic injuries that traction treats
- Reduction of jumped facets
- Reduction of a hangman's fracture
- Matching the pull to the injury
Indications
Which injuries call for traction
- The core indication list
- Facet dislocations, up close
- Displaced or angulated hangman's fractures
- Displaced or angulated type II odontoid fractures
- Two more indications
Contraindications and the MRI debate
When pulling on the head is unsafe
- When NOT to apply traction
- The disk-herniation controversy
- Published series on early closed reduction
- What the evidence means in practice
Equipment
The five things you need at the bedside
- Gardner-Wells tongs: the workhorse
- Gardner-Wells tongs and pin placement
- Halo ring: an alternative anchor that becomes fixation
- Halo ring and four-pin fixation
- The modified hospital bed
- Modified hospital bed with shoulder bracing
- The weights
- Incremental traction weights
- Halo vest: turning reduction into lasting fixation
- Halo vest connected to the halo ring
Technique
From first assessment to weight under X-ray
- Step 1 - Assess the patient first
- Step 2 - Place the tongs
- Pin positions set the traction vector
- Step 3 - Position the patient and set the pulley
- Patient positioning and pulley adjustment
- Step 4 - Apply weight, a little at a time
- Step 5 - Monitor the nervous system continuously
- Step 6 - Image after every step
- Radiographic progress of a C5-C6 reduction
Complications and expert tips
What can go wrong, and how experts avoid it
- The main risks
- Vertebral artery: a reason to image before pulling
- Expert troubleshooting
Summary
The essentials to carry away
- Cervical traction in three ideas
- Take-home points
- References
- Neuro ICU Procedure Atlas