Background and Purpose: Atlantal arch defects are rare. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the incidence and clinical implications of these, using Cervical CT with traumatic patients.
Methods: A retrospective review of 1,534 cervical spine computed tomography (CT) scans was performed to identify patients with atlantal arch defects. Posterior arch defects of the atlas were grouped in accordance with the classification of Currarino et al.
Results: Posterior arch defects were found in 7 (7/1534, 0.44%) and anterior arch defects were found in 2 (2/1534, 0.13%) of the 1,534 patients. The type A posterior arch defect was found in 5 patients and the type B posterior arch defect was found in 2 patients. No type C, D, or E defects were observed. One patient with a type B posterior arch defect had an anterior atlantal-arch midline cleft. Associated cervical spine anomaly was not observed in our cases. None of the reviewed patients had neurological deficits because of atlantal arch defects.
Conclusions: Most congenital anomalies of the atlantal arch are found incidentally during investigation of neck mass, neck pain, radiculopathy, and after trauma. Almost cases of atlantal arch defects are not need to operate. But it is important to note some cases require surgical treatment.
