Occipital Plate Fixation in the Pediatric Population.

BACKGROUND: Occipital plate fixation has been shown to improve outcomes in cervical spine fusion. There is a paucity of literature describing occipital plate fixation, especially in the pediatric population. The authors reviewed a case series of 34 patients at a pediatric hospital who underwent cervical spine fusion with occipital plate fixation between 2003 and 2016. This study describes how occipital plates aid the cervical spine union in a case series of diverse, complex pediatric patients. METHODS: Our orthopaedic database at our institution was queried for patients undergoing an instrumented cervical spine procedure between 2003 and 2016. Medical records were used to collect diagnoses, fusion levels, surgical technique, and length of hospitalization, neurophysiological monitoring, complications, and revision procedures. RESULTS: Thirty-four patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was 10.9 years (range, 3-21 y). Indications for surgery included cervical instability, basilar invagination, and os odontoideum. These indications were often secondary to a variety of diagnoses, including trisomy 21, Klippel-Feil syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis. The mean length of hospitalization was 10 days (range, 2 to 80 d). There were no cases of intraoperative dural leak, venous sinus bleeding from occipital screw placement, or implant-related complications. Postoperative complications included 2 cases of nonunion. Eight patients (24%) had follow-up surgery, only 3 (9%) of which were instrumentation revisions. Both patients with nonunion had repeat occipitocervical fixation procedures and achieved union with revision. CONCLUSIONS: Occipital plate fixation was successful for pediatric cervical spine fusion in this diverse cohort. The only procedure-related complication demonstrated was delayed union or nonunion and implant loosening (4/34, 12%) and there were no plate-related complications. This novel case series shows that occipital plate fixation is safe and effective for pediatric patients with complex diagnoses. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV-case series.