The effects of simple trauma on patients with cervical spine neurofibromatosis: two case reports

Von Recklinghausen's disease of the cervical spine is rare. Spinal deformities appear to occur only in peripheral neurofibromatosis as opposed to central neurofibromatosis, and such deformities include non-dystrophic and dystrophic changes. We describe two patients with neurofibromatosis of the cervical spine who were subjects of simple trauma, one of whom demonstrated dystrophic and the other non-dystrophic changes. The first presented with acute upper cervical spine instability and subluxation, the second with cervical myelopathy. The purpose of this article is to heighten the physician's awareness that such patients have inherent pathology in the cervical spine such that simple trauma can have serious neurological consequences.