Anterior occipital condyle screw placement through the endonasal corridor: proof of concept study with cadaveric analysis.

Purpose: Odontoidectomy for ventral compressive pathology may result in O-C1 and/or C1-2 instability. Same-stage endonasal C1-2 spinal fusion has been advocated to eliminate risks associated with separate-stage posterior approaches. While endonasal methods for C1 instrumentation and C1-2 trans-articular stabilization exist, no hypothetical construct for endonasal occipital instrumentation has been validated.

Risk of Infection Associated with Transmucosal Placement of Instrumentation in Clean-Contaminated Field: Systematic Analysis.

Instability of the craniovertebral junction (CVJ) following odontoidectomy is relatively common. Traditionally, separate stage posterior atlantoaxial ± occipitocervical fusion is used for treatment. A transmucosal approach using a clean-contaminated route is associated with hypothetical risks of infectious complications.