Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 23, 2026
Modified Posterior Vertebral Column Resection for Patients with Thoracolumbar Kyphotic Deformity
Published on: September 16, 2022
[Surgical treatment of clival and axis bone cysts]
A N Shkarubo1, A A Kuleshov2, L A Semenova3
1Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute, Moscow, Russia.
Objective:
The study objective is to present the tactics of surgical treatment of simple (solitary) bone cysts of the clival region and CII body.
Material And Methods:
Two patients were operated on for simple clival and axis cysts.
Results:
The first patient with a simple clival cyst underwent transoral clivectomy and bone cyst evacuation. Postoperative control SCT scans revealed that the cyst cavity was lined with a hemostatic material and biological glue. Restoration of bone structures of the clivus occurred after 8 months. The second patient with a simple cyst of the second cervical vertebra (axis) underwent a two-stage surgical treatment: occipitospondylodesis was carried out first, and transoral removal of the pathological process of the CII body was performed at the second stage. Control scans a year after the surgery revealed the formation of bone tissue in the axis body region, an increased cystic cavity in the odontoid process of the axis, and posterior migration of the odontoid process, which caused compression of the brainstem structures. In connection with this, we performed transoral re-intervention with removal of the cystic separated odontoid process. Postoperative control scans revealed complete removal of the cystic odontoid process and decompression of the dural sac. The article provides a detailed analysis of the modern literature that has not reported any cases of a simple bone cyst located in the clivus or upper cervical vertebrae region and, thus, has not described the tactics for surgical treatment of these complex diseases. The article presents illustrative pre-, intra-, and postoperative images and histological specimens.
Conclusion:
The described cases present successful recurrence-free surgical treatment of simple (solitary) bone cysts located both in the clivus region (1 case) and in the body and odontoid process of the axis (1 case). A feature of the second case was that the patient had an extremely rare combination of a bone cyst of the C2 body and the cystic separated odontoid process of the axis (cystic os odontoideum).
