Temporary Fusionless Occipitocervical Fixation of Bilateral Occipital Condylar Avulsion Fractures in an Adult
Guillermo Rodriguez, Juliana Gomez, Daniel Cavazos, Rahul Vaidya · 2026
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Description
Guillermo Rodriguez and co-authors report a rare skull-base injury treated without permanent fusion in a 2026 case paper. Fractures of the occipital condyles, the knobs where skull meets spine, are uncommon and can kill or disable. When the joint is unstable, the standard fixes are fusion, which locks head movement forever, or a halo brace.
Their patient had fractures on both sides plus a rotated dislocation between the top two vertebrae. The surgeons fixed the occipitocervical junction with hardware meant to be temporary, then removed it once healing held. Follow-up showed excellent alignment, pain relief, and preserved motion. Keeping the joint's movement is the prize: fusion at this level costs a large share of head turning. The case argues for a removable bridge in selected patients.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Guillermo Rodriguez, Juliana Gomez, Daniel Cavazos, Rahul Vaidya |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 12 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |