Neurosurgeons Kashif Shaikh, MD, and Neal Patel, MD, performed surgery on a patient with a traumatic atlanto-occipital dislocation, the Tech Times reports.
Here are four things to know:
1. The patient's skull was internally separated from his spine after a car accident in January. He also suffered a hematoma in his neck.
2. First responders brought the patient to South Bend, Ind.-based Beacon Health System's Memorial Hospital, where Drs. Shaikh and Patel re-aligned his skull and spine.
3. Atlanto-occipital dislocation is a rare and usually fatal injury. The patient was the second person with the injury to be brought to Memorial Hospital alive.
4. The patient had undergone treatment for brain cancer at Memorial Hospital in 2012 and 2013. Dr. Shaikh was a second-year neurosurgery resident there at the time.