COMPLETE POSTTRAUMATIC DISLOCATION OF THE CERVICAL SPIRE WITH TOTAL NEUROLOGICAL RECOVERY

The autors present their experience with an unusual case of fracture o f the lower cervical spine with complete dislocation at C6-C7 level, i n a young man involved in a car accident. An initial unilateral root d eficit progressed shortly after admission to hospital, to a classical Brown-Sequard'syndrome. The development of a partial cord lesion in sp ite of the severe dislocation of the spine, could be attriubuted to th e simultaneous ''traumatic laminotomy'' and the enlargement of the neu ral canal at the level of the vertebral sliding, that occured as a res ult of bilateral fracture of the posterior are of the 6th cervical ver tebra and its separation from the anteriorly displaced vertebral body. Our management consisted in cortico-therapy and early skeletal tracti on with prolonged immobilization of the cervical column. The closed, r apid reduction of the dislocation under neurologic and radiologic moni toring was followed by successful alignement of the neural canal at 48 hours after injury, with progressive neurologic recovery and by ''aut o-fusion'' of the fractured bones with subsequent, stable and long-las ting consolidation.