Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Atlantoaxial disease incidence increased year by year, because of its anatomical structure and the adjacent complex relationship, it plays a vital role in choosing the correct fixation for the treatment of disease.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the atlantoaxial anatomy of injury and the progress of internal fixation techniques for clinical applications.
METHODS: Literatures about atlantoaxial anatomy and fixation from Wanfang and PubMed database published from 1974 to 2010 were searched by the first author. The key terms were “atlantoaxial, anatomy, internal fixation” both in English and Chinese. Papers published recently or in authoritative journals were selected. Totally 116 documents were initial searched and 28 included in this review.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Atlantoaxial occipitocervical migration is an important structure for construction of head rotation and flexion and extension. Because it closes to spinal cord, vertebral artery, cervical nerve and other important structures, any reason caused atlantoaxial or ligament damage can lead to atlantoaxial instability. Variously methods can treat atlantoaxial fixation, however, an appropriate technology should be selected based on anatomical characteristics of the lesion, the indications of various methods, and the operational capacity of the surgeon.