Traumatic spinal injuries in children at a single level 1 pediatric trauma centre: report of a 23-year experience

Abstract

The creation of a pediatric spinal injury database using this 23-year retrospective review helped identify important clinical concepts; we found that active adolescent boys had the highest risk of spine injury, that noncontiguous spine injuries occured at a rate higher than reported previously and that nonaccidental spine injuries in children are underreported. Our findings also emphasize the importance of maintaining a higher index of suspicion with trauma patients with multiple injuries and of conducting detailed clinical and radiographic examinations of the entire spine in children with a known spinal injury.