Inside-outside technique for posterior occipitocervical spine instrumentation and stabilization: preliminary results.

Object: The authors present a series of 16 patients who underwent inside-outside occipital and posterior cervical spine stabilization.

Methods: In this technique, the screw was placed from the inside of the occiput to the outside. An articular (lateral) mass plate was contoured to the shape of the occipital bone and the cervical spine and affixed to the occiput with a flat-headed screw or stud placed through a burr hole in the calvaria with the flat head of the screw in the epidural space and the threads facing outward.