Table 2.
Subaxial Injury Classification and Severity Scale (SLICS) for subaxial cervical spine injuries
| Injury | Score |
| Morphologic features | |
| No morphologic abnormality | 0 |
| Compression | 1 |
| Burst | 2 |
| Distraction | 3 |
| Rotational and/or translational | 4 |
| Integrity of the discoligamentous complex | |
| Intact | 0 |
| Indeterminate | 1 |
| Disrupted | 2 |
| Patient’s neurologic status | |
| Intact | 0 |
| Nerve root injury | 1 |
| Complete | 2 |
| Incomplete | 3 |
| Persistent cord compression (in the setting of a neurologic deficit) | +1 |
| Total SLICS score | 0 - 10 |
Author recommendations based on total score: nonoperative treatment for a total score ≤ 3; operative treatment for a total score ≥ 5; for a total score of 4, a recommendation is indeterminate requiring discretion of the treating surgeon.