Minimally invasive therapy & allied technologies : MITAT : official journal of the Society for Minimally Invasive Therapy
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Minim Invasive Ther Allied Technol · Jun 2019
Case ReportsFull-endoscopic uniportal retropharyngeal odontoidectomy for anterior craniocervical infection.
Infections of the anterior craniocervical junction may require surgery. There are various techniques with individual advantages and disadvantages. This study evaluates the full-endoscopic uniportal technique via the anterior retropharyngeal approach for odontoidectomy, decompression, and debridement. ⋯ The full-endoscopic uniportal technique with an anterior retropharyngeal approach can be an adequate and minimally invasive surgical technique for odontoidectomy, decompression, and debridement in infections of the craniocervical junction and can reduce access-related problems. The transoral, transnasal, and retropharyngeal approaches have different surgical fields due to the access trajectories, which must be taken into consideration depending on the anatomy and pathology when selecting a suitable technique.