COMPUTED-TOMOGRAPHY AND 3-DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION IN THE EVALUATION OF OCCIPITAL CONDYLE FRACTURE

Two cases of a rare Anderson type III occipital condyle fracture are p resented. In any patient sustaining craniovertebral injury an occipita l condyle fracture may be missed because plain films can be unremarkab le. It is important to include computed tomography or coronal hypocycl oidal tomography for all suspect cases of craniovertebral junction inj ury. Although three-dimensional reconstruction did not alter therapy f or this injury, spatial localization of the fracture fragment was enha nced by this method. Serious neurological deficits are possible if thi s unusual injury is not treated.