Abstract
We report three cases of atlanto-axial rotatory fixation (AARF). Two of the cases were secondary to plastic surgeries of microtia, and the third case took a month to be diagnosed as AARF and was difficult to cure. In all cases, we selected conservative therapy including manipulative reduction under general anesthesia. First, we attempted to treat AARF with fixation by neck braces. If remarkable recovery from neck pain or in range of motion of the neck was not achieved, continuous traction (Glisson's traction) was started. If symptoms still continued for about two weeks, manipulative reduction under general anesthesia followed by skeletal traction was chosen. The first two cases were cured in this way. In case 3, recurrence was observed after manipulative reduction, so we repeated manipulation. All the cases finally achieved sufficient recovery from AARF only by conservative therapy.
