BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE Congenital clefts and aplasias of the atlas vertebra are rare. A nonfused posterior arch occurs in 4% of the population; in contrast, a nonfused anterior arch occurs in only 0.1%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of the combination of anterior arch aplasia and a cleft of the posterior arch of the atlas associated with Klippel-Feil and Treache...

OBJECTIVE Meningioma of the cranio-cervical junction is a rare diagnosis and demand a thorough surgical planning as radical excision of these tumors is difficult. In this context recurrence is most likely due to regrowth of residual tumor. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical course of patients operated for craniocervical meningioma (CCM) and to investigate the histological featur...

The authors report, for the first time, the finding by magnetic resonance imaging of a neurofibroma at the craniocervical junction with upper cervical cord and lower brainstem compression causing complete apnea from birth. Subsequent subtotal resection of the neurofibroma resulted in the successful extubation of a previously ventilator-dependent patient. After a two month period of breathing sp...

Received, October 28, 2004. Accepted, March 9, 2005. THE FAR-LATERAL APPROACH is an extension of the standard suboccipital approach, designed to maximize exposure of the lateroventral craniocervical junction. Following a basic principle of cranial base surgery, the angle of view is increased by bone removal. Bone removal involves the most lateral part of the inferior occipital squama and the po...