ReviewPrognostic factors in traumatic atlanto-occipital dislocation

•Traumatic atlanto-occipital dislocation (AOD) is a devastating injury with a high percentage of morbidity and mortality.•Traumatic AOD is usually associated with other injuries that could potential affect survival.•We reviewed the literature and performed a logistic regression in order to elucidate prognostic factors for survival.•Only traumatic brain injury (TBI) was associated with worse survival after AOD, that was statistically significant.•Further studies are needed to better elucidate the role of these factors in survival of traumatic AOD.

Traumatic atlanto-occipital dislocation (AOD) is an ominous injury with high mortality and morbidity in trauma patients. Improved survival has been observed with advancements in pre-hospital and hospital care. Furthermore, high quality imaging studies are accessible at most trauma centers; these are crucial for prompt diagnosis of AOD. The objective of this study is to perform a comprehensive literature review of traumatic AOD, with specific emphasis on identifying prognostic factors for survival. A review of the literature was performed using the Medline database for all traumatic atlanto-occipital articles published between March 1959 and June 2015; 141 patients from 60 total studies met eligibility criteria for study inclusion. A binary logistic regression model was utilized to identify prognostic factors. The analysis assessed age, sex, spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), polytrauma injury (PI), and Traynelis AOD Classification. Only TBI was statistically significantly associated with death (OR 8.05 p < 0.05); SCI did not reach statistical significance for predicting mortality in AOD patients (OR 1.25 p > 0.05). Age, sex, PI, and Traynelis AOD Classification did not meet significance to predict mortality in AOD patients. We found that patients with TBI are eight times more likely to die than patients without TBI. A high degree of suspicion for AOD during pre-hospital care, as well as, prompt diagnosis and management in the trauma center play a key role in the treatment of this devastating injury. The relationship between survival and factors such as TBI and SCI should be further explored.