Awake reduction of hangman's fracture: An era of dexmedetomidine.

ABSTRACT

Hangman's fracture is a kind of unstable cervical spine injury which should be treated promptly to avoid life threatening consequences. Advanced neurological monitoring is essential during surgical intrervention. Resource limited setting, where advanced monitors like SSEP and MEP are not available makes it challenging to assess proper reduction of cervical spine without neurological compromise. Dexmedetomidine proved to be very useful drug to assess the neurological status intra operatively by awake sedation.