The odontoid synchondrotic slip: an injury unique to young children

We report seven children (three female, four male) diagnosed with traumatic synchondrotic slip of the odontoid. The clinical records, plain films and CT scans were evaluated retrospectively. The patients ranged in age between 3 and 5 years. Their injuries resulted from a motor vehicle accident in four cases and from a fall from a height in three. The injury was isolated in five; it was associated with a closed head injury in one and with facial and brachial plexus trauma in another. Radiographs showed anterior angulation with or without displacement in all seven cases. Axial CT with sagittal reformation and 3D reconstructions were performed in six cases. This confirmed the synchondrotic slip and, in addition, identified a rotary component to the injury in three cases, with compromise of the canal in two. Other additional injuries were also noted. All cases were treated conservatively and the injuries healed. Only one child had a neurological deficit attributable to her head injury rather than her cervical injury (MR of the cervical cord was normal). The presence of the synchondrosis between the dens and the body of C-2 makes this injury unique to children under 7 years of age; by the age of 7 the synchondrosis has fused.