Transarticular Screw Fixation in the Treatment of Severe C1-C2 Dislocation: A Case Series Report

Background: To aim of the present paper was to evaluate the results of halo traction and transarticular screw fixation combined with bone autoplasty in patients with severe atlantoaxial dislocation.

Case presentation: This is a retrospective study of severe cases of atlantoaxial dislocation in nine patients (six men and three women) treated with preoperative halo traction and posterior C1-C2 transarticular screw fixation combined with bone autoplasty from June 2006 to June 2011 at the Saint Paul Hospital (Hanoi). The mean age of patients was 37.48 ± 13.753 years (range, 26-50 years). The possibility of fixing dislocation using a halo apparatus was investigated through a series of preoperative halo corrections performed within a span of 1-2 weeks. For transarticular screw fixation, two transarticular screws were used that were positioned according to the Magerl technique. For bone autoplasty, an iliac crest bone graft approximately 3 × 2 cm in size was used. The postoperative assessment of clinical improvement was performed using the neck disability index (NDI), the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale, and the visual analog scale (VAS) measurement instruments, through the gradation of atlantoaxial dislocation, and via the clivoaxial angle(CAA) index and the space available for cord (SAC) index after 6 months. The image diagnosis demonstrates that all the cases of atlantoaxial dislocations are unstable and correspond to the Fielding and Hawkins type III dislocation. Eight patients underwent complete reduction using the halo fixation device. In one patient, the C1-C2 displacement was manually reduced during surgery. CT scanning revealed that the accuracy of screw placement was 94.4%. The bone fusion rate was 100% after 6 months. Based on the ASIA impairment scale, the preoperative examination of patients revealed grade C injuries in seven patients and grade D injuries in two patients. After surgery, all patients had grade D injuries. Six months after surgery, four patients had moderate self-reported neck disability (30%-48%) and five patients reported mild disability (10%-28%); that is, the patient perception of the neck problem improved. In the postoperative phase, all patients showed an improvement in VAS pain scores and the SAC score returned to the normal range in all patients. The CAA returned to normal in only seven patients; in the other two patients, the CAA returned to a value that was close to normal (145° and 149°).

Conclusion: Through halo traction combined with transarticular screw fixation and bone autoplasty, noticeable postoperative improvements were attained based on the clinical scores for NDI, ASIA, and VAS, as well as SAC and CAA.