Anterior atlantoaxial subluxation in a patient with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis.

We describe an 80-year-old woman with neck pain that radiated to the back and left side of her head. Radiographs of the cervical spine showed calcification and ossification of the anterior longitudinal ligament of the spine from the C3 to the C7 level, erosive destruction of the lateral masses of the atlas and axis, and anterior atlantoaxial subluxation (AAS). Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) was diagnosed. This is to the best of our knowledge the first reported case of DISH accompanied by AAS.