Treatment of Type II Odontoid Fractures Among the Elderly

AOSpine North America Research Network

Status

Completed

Conditions

Spinal Injuries

Neck Injuries

Treatments

Procedure: surgical

Procedure: conservative treatment

Study type

Observational

Funder types

NETWORK

Industry

Identifiers

NCT00266929

07-GOF-05

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to compare the safety and effectiveness of surgical versus conservative management of type II odontoid fractures among patients > 64 years of age. Of secondary interest is to determine if there are differences in outcomes between anterior screw fixation and posterior fusion of these fractures.

Full description

Hypotheses are as follows:

Patients receiving surgical management will exhibit better disease specific health and general health related quality of life measures compared to those managed conservatively.
The rate of radiographic bony fusion will be greater among elderly patients receiving surgical fixation compared to patients receiving conservative management.
The rate of non union will be greater in the conservative group compared to the surgical group.
The complication rate will be higher in the surgical group due to the nature of the intervention though the rate of severe and serious complications will be low.

Enrollment

159 patients

Sex

All

Ages

64+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

All new type II odontoid fractures including those in which the fracture line crosses into the body of C2
Age > 64
Stable and unstable fractures
< 3 months post-injury
No previous treatment for an odontoid fracture

Exclusion criteria