Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery
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Case Reports
Acute-onset nontraumatic paraplegia in childhood: fibrocartilaginous embolism or acute myelitis?
Fibrocartilaginous embolus causing acute spinal cord infarction is a rare cause of acute-onset paraplegia or quadriplegia. Few cases of survivors have been reported in the neurosurgical literature, with most reports involving postmortem or biopsy findings. There is little information on MRI findings in such patients. ⋯ The imaging and clinical findings were caused by fibrocartilaginous embolus, which meant there was no need for spinal cord biopsy. The report describes the clinical and imaging criteria for diagnosis of fibrocartilaginous embolus, highlighting the case for avoiding an unnecessary biopsy. The clinical pattern in the paediatric group is discussed, with features differentiating it from acute myelitis of childhood.
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Review Case Reports
Thoraco-lumbar duplication of the spine. Case report and embryology review.
We present a case of an asymptomatic and neurologically normal 6-year-old girl who was noted to have a gross spinal abnormality. ⋯ We present a brief review of the literature dealing with theories of embryogenesis relating to SCM, the common clinical and radiological features, and finally the surgical options available.
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Case Reports
Infantile head injury, with special reference to the development of chronic subdural hematoma.
An infantile head injury has unique features in that infants are totally helpless and dependent on their parents, and biomechanical characteristics of the skull and brain are very different from those of other age groups. The authors reviewed a total of 16 infant head injury patients under 12 months of age who were treated in our hospital from 1989 to 1997. Birth head injury was excluded. ⋯ All chronic SDH patients were successively treated by subduro-peritoneal shunting. In conclusion, the evolution of chronic SDH from acute SDH is relatively common following infantile head injury. Infants with head injuries, especially if they are associated with acute SDH and early development of subdural hygroma, should be carefully followed up with special attention to the possible development of chronic SDH