Isolated vertebral blocks in the cervical spine.

The author presents a review of seven cases with isolated vertebral block of the cervical spine, studied in 1980 in order to verify if the etiology was congenital or acquired. This kind of bony alteration of the spine confused in the literature with Klippel-Feil's syndrome, which is a congenital constellation of bone alterations. The author concludes that, even in two cases with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, the vertebral block probably was not related to the inflammatory pathology. For one case of severe rheumatoid arthritis, it is proposed that the congenital block may have been present before the onset of the inflammatory disease. The cervical vertebral block can be considered to be an asymptomatic radiological finding.