Pediatric Spinal Cord Injury without Radiographic Abnormality: The Beijing Experience

Study Design. Retrospective study. Objective. To describe the epidemiology and clinical outcomes of pediatric patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) without radiographic abnormality (SCIWORA) in mainland China for the first time. Summary of Background Data. SCIWORA is a syndrome that often occurs in children mainly due to the unique biomechanics of the pediatric spine. Although there have been numerous retrospective studies on pediatric SCIWORA, and mainland China has more patients with SCI than anywhere else, pediatric patients with SCIWORA in mainland China has not been described in any study. Methods. Review of all cases with SCIWORA at Beijing Children's Hospital between July 2007 and December 2019. Results. Of the 189 pediatric patients with SCI 140 had SCIWORA (age: 5.65 ± 2.60 years, male-to-female ratio: 2:5). Main causes of injuries were sports (41%, mostly backbend), falls (27%), traffic accidents (10%), and violence (8%). Lesions were located at the thoracic (77%), cervical (10%), multiple (5%), and lumbar (4%) levels. Incubation period was 2 ± 6 hours. Pathological characteristics of SCI were detected in 96% patients by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Based on the American Spinal Injury Association impairment scale (AIS), many patients had complete impairment (50% AIS A, 45% AIS B/C/D, 1% AIS E). Particularly, the five patients with normal MRI tended to have mild injury (AIS D) (P 
Source: Spine - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: CLINICAL CASE SERIES Source Type: research