title: [Dens fracture with concurrent subaxial cervical spine injury in patients with ankylosing spondylitis].
abstract: Odontoid process fractures in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are rare and their finding together with subaxial cervical spine injury is a great exception. Neither the mechanism of such a combined cervical spine injury nor its surgical treatment has so far been reported in the relevant literature (MEDLINE). The authors present two such cases, one in a 30- and the other in a 74-year-old man. Both AS patients showed a common mechanism of injury sustained in a car accident, which involved hitting a solid barrier at 60 to 70 kilometres per hour, resulting in hyperextension of the cervical spine. In both patients the fractures were stabilised from the anterior approach: the dens fractures with one or two screws by the Magerl-Böhler method and the subaxial fractures with long-plate and screw fixation. At 2 post-operative years complete bone union of the subaxial spine was recorded in both patients; complete healing of the dens fracture was achieved in one patient while in the other partial fibrous union of the dens fracture occurred.
authors.affiliation: Neurochirurgická klinika FN a LF UP v Olomouci.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hrabálek
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adamus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000293:injuries*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009809:Odontoid Process / Q000293:injuries*; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000150:complications*