Conservative treatment of atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS) has tended to be rather passive, since there has been a lack of effective tools. The stabilizing effect of a stiff collar in the treatment of AAS was evaluated. Fifty successive rheumatoid patients with unstable AAS were interviewed and examined clinically. Lateral view radiographs of the cervical spine were taken in neutral position, dur...

Spinal involvement is frequent in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and seronegative spondyloarthritides (SpA), and its diagnosis is important. Thus, MRI and CT are increasingly used, although radiography is the recommended initial examination. The purpose of this review is to present the typical radiographic features of spinal changes in RA and SpA in addition to the advantages of MRI and CT, respecti...

OBJECTIVE A pilot study was conducted to determine whether untrained examiners could agree on palpatory findings in the cervical spine. DESIGN Fifty-three university students, (most of whom were chiropractic students), had their cervical spines examined by seven different chiropractors using their own clinical methods, of which motion palpation was a common, but not standard component. SETT...

Introduction: Degenerative changes of the cervical spine are more common in elderly, but anterior cervical osteophytes that cause problems in swallowing are rare. The most common cause of this problem is DISH disease (diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis). Trauma is also suggested as a potential cause in osteophyte formation. Case Report: We report a rare case of anterior cervical osteop...

BACKGROUND Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease, which affects 1% of the population. Hands and feet are most commonly involved followed by the cervical spine. The spinal column consists of vertebrae stabilized by an intricate network of ligaments. Especially in the upper cervical spine, rheumatoid arthritis can cause degeneration of these ligaments, causing laxity, instability...

spine or from direct pressure by synovial pannus [2]. We present a case of periodontoid rheumatoid pannus formation in which symptomatic relief and regression of pannus (imaged by MRI scanning) was achieved following a short course of infliximab therapy. A 65-yr-old female with a 33-yr history of rheumatoid arthritis presented with a 2 month history of severe intractable cervical spine (neck) p...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Odontoid lateral mass interval asymmetry can be within the normal spectrum or the result of traumatic atlantoaxial injury. We sought to set radiographic guidelines for further investigation of odontoid lateral mass interval asymmetry in cervical spine CT studies of pediatric trauma patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fourteen children with C1-2 ligamentous injury or atlanto...

Objective: A pilot study was conducted to determine whether untrained examiners could agree on palpatory findings in the cervical spine. Design: Fifty-three university students, (most of whom were chiropractic students), had their cervical spines examined by seven different chiropractors using their own clinical methods, of which motion palpation was a common, but not standard component. Settin...

Introduction Dysfunctional transverse and alar craniovertebral ligaments can cause instability and osseous destruction in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study examined (1) the feasibility of high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of these ligaments in RA and (2) the relation between ligament high-signal changes and atlantoaxial subluxation and RA duration/severity. Methods Consecutiv...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective case series. PURPOSE To elucidate the impact of postoperative occiput-C2 (O-C2) angle change on subaxial cervical alignment. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE In the case of occipito-upper cervical fixation surgery, it is recommended that the O-C2 angle should be set larger than the preoperative value postoperatively. METHODS The present study included 17 patients who unde...