Vol.100 No.4 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 100 No. 4 April 2007
A Case of Atlanto-Axial Rotatory Fixation
Following Cochlear Reimplantation
Harukazu Hiraumi and Juich Ito
(Kyoto University)
Keigo Honda
(Kurashiki Central Hospital)
Masako Nakai
(Shiga Medical Center for Children)
Yasushi Naito
(Kobe City General Hospital)
The patient was a 9-year-old girl who had undergone cochlear implant implantation when she was 3 years old for a common cavity anomaly. She received cochlear implant reimplantation because of mechanical failure. The old electrode was removed without difficulty and the new electrode was inserted carefully so as not to become tangled within the inner ear. To accomplish this, repeated plain radiographs were obtained during surgery. On the first post-operative day, she complained of neck pain and otalgia, and her neck was rotated to the right. No other neurological findings were observed and the pain decreased, but the torticollis persisted for 7 days. Computed tomography revealed that her neck complaint was due to atlanto-axial rotatory fixation. With neck traction, the torticollis diminished and good atlanto-axial alignment was obtained.
Key words : cochlear implant implantation, torticollis, atlanto-axial rotatory fixation