Surgical correction of subaxial kyphosis in a child with type I neurofibromatosis: rare clinical case and literature review

Abstract

The paper presents a case of rapidly developing severe cervical kyphosis in a 5-year-old child which was the first clinical manifestation of type I neurofibromatosis (NF1). Surgical correction was carried out in two stages with preliminary hardware halo-traction and subsequent reconstruction of the spine using titanium mesh cage with bone autograft and posterior instrumentation. The deformity was corrected from the magnitude of 79° to the restoration of physiological lordosis. Long-term results were followed-up for 2.5 years with full mainte- nance of the achieved deformity correction. A 15-year literature review on the cervical spine lesions in NF1 is presented.

Keywords

• cervical spine
• children
• surgical treatment
• cervical kyphosis
• type i neurofibromatosis
• spine deformity