Occipital condyle syndrome: The visible part of the iceberg

Abstract

Occipital condyle syndrome is a rare clinical disorder, clinically defined by the association of intense occipital headaches and paralysis of the twelfth paired cranial nerve. Its etiology is dominated by metastatic tumor. Imaging is the gold standard for diagnosis allowing to highlight occipital condyle lesion as weel as to find out primary tumor. Treatment is based on pain relief using analgesics, corticosteroids and very often, external radiotherapy. On the other hand, treatment of metastatic tumor is based on cytotoxic chemotherapy, targeted therapies or immunotherapy depending on the molecular profile of the primary tumor.