Occipital condyle fracture: Case report

Abstract

Fracture of the occipital condyle is a very rare injury. Complaints in these cases vary from upper cervical pain to the multiple cranial nerve palsies. We report the case of a traffic accident victim who had occipital condyle fracture with no clinical symptoms about these fracture. A fracture of the occipital condyle was diagnosed during investigations for middle cranial fossa fracture. High-resolution CT scan revealed a Type 2 occipital condyle fracture. MRI showed no damage to the spinal cord, nor to vascular and ligamentous structures. The patient wore a Philadelphia collar for 3 months, and then high-resolution CT scan showed that the fracture of the occipital condyle had healed. Investigation of the craniovertebral junction should be included in the cranial CT scan for patients with clinical signs of basis cranii fracture.