Traumatic posterior atlantooccipital dislocation with Jefferson fracture and fracture-dislocation of C6-C7: a case report with survival

Abstract.

Atlantooccipital dislocation (AOD) is a rare and usually fatal injury. In the current study, the authors reported an extremely rare case of posterior AOD with Jefferson fracture and fracture-dislocation of C6-C7. The patient survived the injury and had only incomplete quadriplegia below the C7 segment with anterior cord syndrome. He was successfully managed with in situ occipitocervical fusion using the Cotrel-Dubousset rod system, corpectomy of C6, and anterior interbody fusion of C5–C7 with plating. To our knowledge, this is the first report of posterior AOD with two other noncontiguous cervical spine injuries. A high index of suspicion and careful examination of the upper cervical spine should be considered as the key to the diagnosis of AOD in cases that involve multiple or lower cervical spine injuries.