[Combined spinal and epidural anesthesia for cesarean delivery in a patient with a cervical fracture at C2].

There are only a few reports on cesarean section in a patient with cervical fracture without spinal cord injury (SCI). Such patients have high risks for deterioration of SCI following general or regional anesthesia. Here, we present a patient with a fracture of C2 vertebra who underwent cesarean section safely under combined spinal and epidural anesthesia(CSEA). A 30-year-old woman had a fracture of the C2 cervical vertebra (Hangman's fracture) due to a traffic accident at 34 weeks of gestation. Conservative immobilization of the head and neck was done with a neck collar (Philadelphia brace) in order to prevent subsequent SCI after the spine injury. Pre-viability amniorrhexis was seen at 37 weeks' gestation, and an emergency cesarean section was scheduled under combined epidural and spinal anesthesia (CSEA). Her neck and head were carefully fixed before, during and after surgery in order to prevent subsequent SCI. As a result, cesarean section under CSEA was successfully performed in the patient without any deterioration of the spine and/or SCI.