High cervical pain and impairment of skull mobility as the only symptoms of an occipital condyle fracture

Abstract

Occipital condyle fractures are rarely reported in survivors of trauma. Most cases involve patients with a major head trauma, lower cranial nerve palsy, and/or suspected lesions demonstrated on plain x-ray films of the skull or cervical spine. The authors describe a traffic-accident victim in whom an atlanto-occipital joint lesion was suspected based only on mobility investigation of the skull. Axial high-resolution computerized tomography of the atlanto-occipital joint showed a fracture of the right occipital condyle.