title: Treatment of old dislocations of the lower cervical spine.
abstract: We treated surgically 12 patients with an old dislocation of the lower cervical spine. The time from injury to presentation averaged 3.5 (range 1.5-12) months, and the majority of the dislocations were between C4-5. Treatment started with 1 week of skull traction. If this resulted in reduction the area was stabilised by anterior fusion with plate fixation. If reduction by traction did not succeed a posterior partial facetectomy was performed. If this allowed reduction it was followed by a posterior fusion with plate fixation. If reduction was not achieved the traction was continued for a further week and then followed by anterior discectomy and fusion with plate fixation. The average follow-up was 34 (range 12-54) months, and all patients developed bone fusion and showed neurological improvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma, Faculty of Medicine, Assuit University, Assuit Governorate, Assuit, Egypt. mghassam66@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Mohammed G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Hassan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001860:Bone Plates; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000293:injuries / Q000601:surgery*; D017586:Diskectomy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D004204:Joint Dislocations / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D013123:Spinal Fusion / Q000379:methods*; D014143:Traction; D016896:Treatment Outcome