Complete occipitalization of atlas vertebra with other congenital malformations - a rare variation

Abstract

Occipitalization of the atlas vertebra or atlantooccipital fusion represents the most cephaled blocked vertebra found in the vertebral column. It is defined as the congenital bony fusion of the atlas vertebra to the base of the occipital bone of the skull. Out of the sixty skulls studied in the Department of Anatomy, Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar, we come across a dry adult human skull with the total synostosis of the whole atlas vertebra with the occipital bone of the skull. The awareness of this anatomical variation in the patients showing abnormalities of the neck region can help the neurosurgeons, radiologists anaesthetologists andorthopaedic surgeons to reach at a correct diagnosis.

Keywords

• basilar part
• blocked
• synostosis
• atlas