injuries poisoning
Spinal Cord Injury in Children
Key Points
Most spinal injuries in children involve the neck. Neurologic symptoms and signs may be delayed from 30 minutes to 4 days after injury in about 25% of affected children. Children may have spinal cord injury without evidence of radiologic abnormality (SCIWORA). SCIWORA should be suspected with even transient symptoms of neurologic dysfunction or lancinating pains down the spine or extremities. Do MRI in all patients who had neurologic symptoms, neurologic deficits on examination, or spinal injury detected on other imaging studies. Surgical stabilization is less frequently indicated in children than adults with spinal cord injury. 