TITLE:
Complex Fractures of C2 Vertebra, Retrospective Study
AUTHORS:
Marcel Şincari, Antonio Angelo Perez Almeida, Mark-Daniel Şincari
KEYWORDS:
Fracture, Isthmus, C2 Vertebra
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Neuroscience,
Vol.16 No.2,
May
27,
2026
ABSTRACT: The high cervical spine is a highly mobile segment that contains and protects the transition zone from the brainstem to the spinal cord, structures of crucial importance. As a transitional vertebra, the C2 vertebra has a unique structure with different anatomic peculiarities and high mobility, that explains why the fractures patterns are different from other regions. Injuries of the high cervical spine are frequent, lately with more incidence in elderly people, fracture of the C2 vertebra occurs in approximately one quarter of cases of acute cervical fractures. Axial vertebra trauma has been the focus of different types of classification, mostly oriented to odontoid fractures and Hangman’s fractures. As life longevity is increasing, C2 fractures tend to involve the elderly with their diseases, fragility, bone quality and thus the fractures are more complex. The purpose of the paper is to revise retrospectively the C2 fracture cases mostly focused on the classification of them, as we feel difficulties in classification of some cases. As a result, we attempted to adjust and tune the existed classification systems of C2 vertebra classifications.