Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of several types of cervical braces used for external immobilization on craniovertebral junction malformation. Methods 48 patients with craniovertebral junction malformation applied several types of cervical braces, including Philadelphia collar, sterno-occipito-mandibular immobilizer (SOMI) and Halo-vest, for the surgical treatment were retrospectively analyzed. Results The primary applications of external cervical brace after posterior internal craniovertebral fixation in this series were 20 cases of Philadelphia collar, 16 cases of SOMI and 12 cases of Halo-vest, with excellent or good results in 80%, 87.5% and 91.7%. The applications of external brace for post-hospital recovery were 16 cases of collar, 15 cases of SOMI and 17 cases of Halo-vest. 35 (72.9%) patients were followed-up for at least 4 months, with satisfying immobilization and duration which fulfilled the requirements for post-operative recovery. Conclusion The applications of the all of 3 kinds of external brace, including collar, SOMI and Halo-vest, have their important clinical value for peri-operational and post-operational recovery in the treatment of patients with craniovertebral junction malformation. To have a reasonable choice of these brace in different patients, the characteristics of pathology as well as the surgical stages should be taken into account.

Key words: craniovertebral junction malformation, cervical orthosis, cervical thoracic orthosis