Concomitant craniospinal injuries with maxillofacial trauma--a review of 266 cases.

Maxillofacial injuries are fairly common and they are usually found in association with multiple injuries. The proximity of the face to the craniospinal axis results in significant association between maxillofacial trauma and craniospinal injuries. Previous studies have enumerated this association but the injury types, classifications and influences of the concomitant injuries on the outcome of management are sketchy. In this study, road traffic accident was the commonest cause of maxillofacial and concomitant c raniospinal injuries: mild closed head injuries was the commonest concomitant injury occurring in almost 60% of the cases whilst mandibular fracture was the maxillofacial injury frequently encountered. The average duration of hospitalization in patients with maxillofacial trauma and concomitant mild head injury was 19 days but it was much higher (average 34.9 days) in patients with concomitant spinal injuries. The high incidence of head injury would suggest that maxillofacial units are best cited in hospitals with functional neurosurgical services.