Abstract
Background and aims: Spinal cord injury without radiological abnormality (SCIWORA) often occurs in the skeletally immature cervical and thoracic spine. In this report we discribe a girl who had prolonged weaning because of SCIWORA. Methods: Case Report: 2 year-old girl was hit by a car while running a road. Cervikal X-ray and CT scan of the brain and CT scan of the chest was normal. She was unable to move her limb and leg. She had abdominal breathing, defecation, and urinary incontinence. MRI of the cervical spine showed atropic spinal cord from C5 toT1. The smallest anterior posterior diameter was 10 mm. The patient needed ventilator support for 2 weeks and she had extubation failure one time. After high dose steroid therapy and proper rehabilitation program for 2 weeks extubation accomplished. Results: Discussion: Pediatric spinal injuries are uncommon. SCIWORA occurs most often in pediatric population and accounts for up to 2/3 of severe cervical injuries in children of< 8 years of age. Spinal cord injury in children frequently occurs without fracture or dislocation. The mechanism of neural injury probably related to intersegmental displacements of the spinal cord when subjected to flexion, extension, and distraction forces. The physician attending to a multiply injured child must be aware that children, may have a spinal cord injury.
Published Version
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