What causes atlanto-occipital dislocation?
Atlanto-occipital dislocation (AOD) is a devastating condition that frequently results in prehospital cardiorespiratory arrest and accounts for 15% of fatal spinal trauma. Atlanto-occipital dislocation occurs 5 times more commonly in children than adults, and is believed to be caused by hyperextension.
What is AOD injury?
AOD is a highly unstable craniocervical injury, resulting from damage to ligaments and/or bony structures connecting the skull to the cervical spine. It is historically associated with significant neurological morbidity and mortality secondary to brainstem and upper cervical spinal cord injury.
What is occipital dislocation?
Atlanto-occipital dislocation, orthopedic decapitation, or internal decapitation describes ligamentous separation of the spinal column from the skull base. It is possible for a human to survive such an injury; however, 70% of cases result in immediate death.
What is AO dissociation?
Abstract. Introduction: Atlanto-occipital dissociation (AOD) is a rare and unstable injury of the craniocervical junction, associated with very high morbidity and mortality. The most common cause of this injury is high energy trauma with hyperextension of the cranium, such as car accidents.
What is atlantoaxial dislocation?
Atlantoaxial dislocation refers to a loss of stability between the atlas and axis (C1–C2), resulting in loss of normal articulation (Fig. 1). The atlantoaxial joints can lose stable articulation from traumatic, inflammatory, idiopathic, or congenital abnormalities.
Where is the atlanto-occipital joint?
The atlanto-occipital joint on each side is between the occipital condyles and the superior facets on lateral masses of the atlas. (Fig 3.8) This is an ellipsoidal joint supported by the anterior and posterior atlanto-occipital membranes connecting the margins of the foramen magnum to the arches of atlas.
What is atlanto occipital dislocation?
Atlanto-occipital dislocation. Atlanto-occipital dislocation, orthopedic decapitation, or internal decapitation describes ligamentous separation of the spinal column from the skull base.
What is the anatomy of the atlanto-occipital articulation?
The atlanto-occipital articulation is comprised of a pair of condyloid synovial joints that connect the occiput (C0) to the first cervical vertebra (atlas/C1). Article:
What are the neurologic symptoms of atlantooccipital dislocation (ACD)?
Therefore, initial survivors of atlantooccipital dislocation may show severe and variable neurologic deficits, including reversible or irreversible tetraplegia, multiple cranial nerve deficits, loss of consciousness, and recurrent respiratory and/or cardiac arrests.
How do you measure the atlanto-occipital interval?
The distance between the atlas and the occipital condyles, the atlanto-occipital interval (AOI), should measure less than 4 mm, and is better assessed on coronal images.