Concepts and pitfalls in the diagnosis and treatment of upper cervical spine trauma
LIU Peng
ZHAO Jian-hua
Abstract：Upper cervical spine refers to conjunctional region of skull and cervical spine , including three bony structures(occipital condyles,atlas,axis) and two intervertebral joints.Due to contribution to nearly half of flexibility of cervical spine , upper cervical spine is prone to trauma .Because of the complex anatomy , important function,and special kinematics of this region ,diagnosis and treatment of upper cervical spine trauma are always a challenge .The paper aims to review key points in this field and analyze the common pitfalls ,based on ten-year clini-cal practice of authors and literatures .Authors suggest that possibility of fracture healing ,as well as the possibility of restoration of intervertebral joints function ( stability and mobility ) should be paid special attention to in the whole course of diagnosis and treatment .
Keywords：upper cervical spinefractureintervertebral jointsstabilitymobility
Publication Date：2016-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：3( 705-707 )