Upper cervical spine tuberculosis

Abstract

Tuberculosis is an infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis; mainly affects the lungs; spinal tuberculosis presents 6 % of the extrapulmonary locations; Upper cervical spine tuberculosis is a rare condition and counts only 0.3 to 1 % of all spinal tuberculosis; that makes it a rare condition studied by few case reports. We report a case of upper cervical spine tuberculosis of the atlantoaxial facet joint.

Keywords

• tuberculosis
• upper cervical spine
• atlantoaxial dislocation