Hadassah surgeons reattach boy’s head to his neck after internal decapitation

In an extremely rare and complex operation, Hadassah Medical Center surgeons have reattached a 12-year-old boy’s head to his neck after a serious accident in which he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle, the Jerusalem hospital announces.

Suleiman Hassan, from the Jordan Valley, was airlifted to Hadassah’s trauma unit in Ein Kerem, where it was determined that the ligaments holding the posterior base of his skull were severed from the top vertebrae of his spine. The condition, bilateral atlanto occipital joint dislocation, is commonly known as internal or orthopedic decapitation.

The injury is very rare in adults, and even more so in children.

“We fought for the boy’s life,” says Dr. Ohad Einav, the orthopedic specialist who operated on the patient together with Dr. Ziv Asa and a large intensive care team. The surgery was carried out in early June.