{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T01:34:38Z","timestamp":1787621678974,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"1","content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J R Army Med Corps"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2018,3,19]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Death as a consequence of underbody blast (UBB) can most commonly be attributed to central nervous system injury. UBB may be considered a form of tertiary blast injury but is at a higher rate and somewhat more predictable than injury caused by more classical forms of tertiary injury. Recent studies have focused on the transmission of axial load through the cervical spine with clinically relevant injury caused by resultant compression and flexion. This paper seeks to clarify the pattern of head and neck injuries in fatal UBB incidents using a pragmatic anatomical classification.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>This retrospective study investigated fatal UBB incidents in UK triservice members during recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Head and neck injuries were classified by anatomical site into: skull vault fractures, parenchymal brain injuries, base of skull fractures, brain stem injuries and cervical spine fractures. Incidence of all injuries and of each injury type in isolation was compared.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>129 fatalities as a consequence of UBB were identified of whom 94 sustained head or neck injuries. 87 casualties had injuries amenable to analysis. Parenchymal brain injuries (75%) occurred most commonly followed by skull vault (55%) and base of skull fractures (32%). Cervical spine fractures occurred in only 18% of casualties. 62% of casualties had multiple sites of injury with only one casualty sustaining an isolated cervical spine fracture.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Improvement of UBB survivability requires the understanding of fatal injury mechanisms. Although previous biomechanical studies have concentrated on the effect of axial load transmission and resultant injury to the cervical spine, our work demonstrates that cervical spine injuries are of limited clinical relevance for UBB survivability and that research should focus on severe brain injury secondary to direct head impact.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/jramc-2018-000942","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,21]],"date-time":"2018-04-21T06:20:12Z","timestamp":1524291612000},"page":"18-21","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Fatal head and neck injuries in military underbody blast casualties"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"165","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0935-7052","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarah K","family":"Stewart","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Department of Military Surgery and Trauma, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A P","family":"Pearce","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Department of Military Surgery and Trauma, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Birmingham, UK"},{"name":"Centre for Blast Injury Studies, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jon C","family":"Clasper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Blast Injury Studies, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK"},{"name":"Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, Frimley Park Hospital, Frimley, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025081309420474000_165.1.18.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/BOT.0b013e31821c0ec1"},{"key":"2025081309420474000_165.1.18.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2106\/JBJS.F.00203"},{"key":"2025081309420474000_165.1.18.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/TA.0b013e3182755dcc"},{"key":"2025081309420474000_165.1.18.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2010.0476"},{"key":"2025081309420474000_165.1.18.5","first-page":"2","article-title":"Dismounted complex blast injury","volume":"21","author":"Andersen","year":"2012","journal-title":"J Surg Orthop Adv"},{"key":"2025081309420474000_165.1.18.6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"602","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clinbiomech.2013.05.007","article-title":"Cervical spine injury biomechanics: applications for under body blast loadings in military environments","volume":"28","author":"Yoganandan","year":"2013","journal-title":"Clin Biomech"},{"key":"2025081309420474000_165.1.18.7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Webster C , Clasper J . 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