Proposed operation for occipital neuralgia: C-2 and C-3 root decompression. Case report.

The common association of occipital neuralgia with post-traumatic cervical arthritis raises the question of whether some cases of occipital neuralgia are due to delayed C-2 or C-3 root entrapment. This hypothesis led to surgical exploration of the C-3 and C-2 roots in a young patient with post-traumatic arthritic occipital neuralgia. The abnormal operative findings and resolution of the neuralgia after C-3 foraminal and C-2 fascial root decompression lead to the tentative proposal that some cases of occipital neuralgia represent a root entrapment syndrome amenable to neurosurgical decompression.