Multicenter study of 37 pediatric patients with SCIWORA or other spinal cord injury without associated bone lesion

Abstract Background Pure traumatic spinal cord injury (without associated bone lesion) are encountered in pediatric accidentology, the most typical being spinal cord injury without radiological abnormality (SCIWORA). The present study reports a multicenter series of under-18-year-olds admitted for traumatic medullary lesion. The objectives were: (1) to describe the causes of pure spinal cord injuries in children in France and their clinical presentation; (2) to identify any prognostic factors; and (3) to describe their medical management in France. Patients and method A multicenter retrospective study was conducted in 3 pediatric spine pathology reference centers. Files of 37 patients with confirmed spinal cord injury between January 1988 and June 2017 were analyzed: SCIWORA (n = 30), myelopathy associated with severe cranial trauma (n = 2), and obstetric trauma (n = 5). Accident causes, associated lesions, initial Frankel grade, level of clinical spinal cord injury, initial MRI findings, type of treatment and neurology results at last follow-up were collated. The main endpoint was neurologic recovery, defined by improvement of at least 1 Frankel grade. Results Causes comprised 17 road accidents, 11 sports accidents, 5 obstetric lesions and 4 falls. Mean follow-up was 502 days. The rate of at least partial neurologic recovery was 20/30 in SCIWORA, 0/5 in obstetric trauma, and 0/4 in case of associated intracranial lesion. In SCIWORA, factors associated with recovery comprised age, accident type, and absence of initial MRI lesion. Discussion We report a large series of pediatric spinal cord injury without associated bone lesion. This is a potentially serious pathology, in which prognosis is mainly related to age and trauma mechanism. Level of evidence IV, case series.