Recently, the spine surgery department of Ningbo Li Huili Hospital successfully operated on a patient with free dentition, old atlantoaxial dislocation and severe cervical spinal cord compression using shoulder arthroscopy technology. The surgery was performed on a middle-aged Jinhua woman named Li, who was knocked down by a car while riding her electric bicycle five months ago and was sent to Jinhua Central Hospital unconscious. After waking up, Li felt pain in her lower back, numbness in her left limb and soreness in her neck. The hospital treated her pelvic fracture with external fixation, while she was advised to transfer to a higher level hospital for treatment of her neck condition. On September 2, she was referred to the Department of Spine Surgery at Lee Wai Lee Hospital, where she was diagnosed with “free dentition, old atlantoaxial dislocation, and cervical spinal cord compression”, and the effective treatment was to perform atlantoaxial dislocation and cervical spinal cord compression. The effective treatment was to perform atlantoaxial joint release and repositioning and lateral block nail fixation to relieve the cervical spinal cord compression. After carefully designing the surgical plan, the specialists performed the surgery on September 8 using shoulder arthroscopy technology. During the operation, the patient’s carotid artery, esophagus, trachea and other important tissues were not injured by the minimally invasive surgery. The entire surgery took 3 hours to complete. According to Dr. Wenge Shen, chief physician of spine surgery at Lee Wai Lee Hospital, the atlantoaxial spine is the top of the spine and is connected to the base of the skull, and its misalignment can cause paraplegia and even endanger life, so the surgery is extremely risky. The use of shoulder arthroscopy technology instead of traditional surgical treatment is an innovation and breakthrough in spine surgery. (Reprinted from People’s Daily)