Type II Fractures in Older Adults: Can They Be Treated Conservatively?: A Single-Center Experience and Review of the Literature.

Background: Odontoid fractures are the most common acute cervical spinal fractures in the geriatric population. Their rate is increasing along with the rising age of the elderly population. Whereas conservative management with external immobilization is reported as the treatment of choice for type I and III odontoid fractures, there are no clear indications concerning the best treatment for type II fractures. In younger patients surgical management is considered the best choice, but in older adults the rate of good outcomes worsens and operative risk because of comorbidities increases.

Methods: We report our retrospective single-center experience with conservative treatment of type II odontoid fractures in an elderly population, focusing on both radiologic and functional outcomes to compare our results with the recent literature.

Results: Among the 21 selected subjects with a minimum follow-up of 18 months, 19 (90.5%) showed a satisfactory clinical outcome, with an adequate bony healing in 10 cases and nonsymptomatic pseudarthrosis in 9 patients. All these patients were satisfied with the conservative results and could stop use of the collar. Two patients (9.5%) did not show any improvement and had to keep the collar indefinitely.

Conclusions: Our study was limited because it was a retrospective review, with a limited number of patients. Nevertheless, the clinical and radiologic outcomes of our patients differ from the results of other studies, suggesting that conservative management of these fractures in this population does not necessarily lead to a bad clinical outcome or delayed surgery.