Clinical and Radiographic Outcomes of Atlantoaxial or Occipitocervical Fixation and Fusion in Patients With Cervical Myelopathy due to Idiopathic Retro-Odontoid Pseudotumor

The formation of IROP is closely associated with the decrease in range of motion of cervical spine following long-segment fixation and fusion of subaxial cervical spine, as well as the increase in biomechanical stress, hyperplasia, and hypertrophy of the ligament around the odontoid process in the upper cervical spine. Following fixation and fusion of the upper cervical spine, IROP can spontaneously regress upon elimination of pathogenic factors. For such patients, C1 laminectomy is unnecessary, and preserving it serves to provide a bone graft bed for upper cervical spine bone fusion.