Extensile exposures to the craniocervical junction and the upper cervical spine in children.

The early surgical treatment of abnormalities that are encountered in the pediatric population that affect the craniocervical junction and the upper cervical spine was by way of a posterior route. The advances in neurodiagnostic imaging and microsurgical instrumentation have been coupled with the improved understanding of the complex anatomy, the dynamics, and the site of neural encroachment. This has opened up new vistas and essentially placed the entire circumference of the upper cervical spine and foramen magnum within the neurosurgeons reach.