Odontoid Process Fracture Treated by Anterior Odontoid Screw Fixation

Byung Kyu Lee, Hyang Kwon Park, Dong Bin Park, Kyu Man Shin

Copyright ⓒ 1994. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jul 24, 2015

Abstract

While odontoid fractures are common injuries, disagreement exists regarding treatment. Because of the high risk of nonunion in type II odontoid fractures, surgical fusion should be considered in the initial treatment of odontoid fractures, surgical fusion should be considered in the initial treatment of odontoid fractures.

Surgical fusion of odontoid fractures has usually been carried out by posterior C1-2 arthrodesis rather than fracture fixation. The former approach has been associated with significant mortality and morbidity. In addition, it results in a decreased range of motion, particularly lateral rotation and requires postoperative external immobilization. Recently several authors aors have advocated anterior scrow fixation of the fracture as an alternative to posterior cervical fusion.

This paper presents a descuddion of different fusion methods and a limmited experience of screw fixation method.

Direct anterior odentoid screw fixation can be used for the successful treatment of selected odontoid fractures and nonunions.

Keywords: Odontoid fractures; Odontoid screw fixation; Posterior C1-2 arthrodesis