The Widened Interspinous Distance: A Useful Sign of Anterior Cervical Dislocation in the Supine Frontal Projection

Abstract
Anterior dislocation of the cervical spine [in humans] may be detected reliably in the supine frontal projection by evaluating the cervical spinous processes. A widened interspinous distance (ISD) which measures more than 1 1/2 times the ISD above and more than 1 1/2 times the ISD below indicates the presence of an anterior cervical dislocation at the level of abnormal widening. Measurements of the interspinous distances from the C3-C4 interval through the C7-T1 interval in 500 patients with normal cervical spines and in 14 patients with documented anterior cervical dislocations revealed neither false positive nor false negative diagnoses by these criteria.

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