175. Survival of Atlanto-Occipital Dissociation Correlates with Injury Severity Score and Neurologic Status

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Case reports and small case series suggest that Atlanto-Occipital Dissociation (AOD) is a potentially survivable injury. Some biomechanical and clinical studies suggest that AOD may represent a larger spectrum of injuries than previously thought. Intuitively, a significant neurologic injury, a high degree of initial distraction, and more severe associated injuries would decrease the likelihood of survival. However, this has never been demonstrated for this injury pattern in a statistically meaningful way.