Cervical Spine Trauma Evaluation

A 60 year old man is evaluated in the ICU after a rollover motor vehicle accident three days ago. He has multiple upper and lower extremity trauma and was found unresponsive at the accident scene. Surgery is planned for the extremity trauma once the patient is medically stable. Examination reveals mild erythema in the posterior occipital cervical region. The correct answer to this question is three definitive clearance of the cervical spine with CT and or MRI.