Birth-related spinal cord injuries: a multicentric review of nine cases.

Objective: The objective of this study was to report a multicentric study of nine cases of children presenting with a birth-related spinal injury.
Materials and Methods: The medical charts of nine patients identified by a questionnaire sent to the members of the French Society of Paediatric Orthopaedics (SOFOP) were reviewed.
Conclusions: The pregnancy was uneventful in all cases. The fetal presentation was cephalic in three cases, a breech presentation in four cases, a face presentation in two cases. The lesion involved the cervical spine in six cases. Three patients presenting upper cervical injuries died before the age of 6 years. The six remaining patients experienced no neurological improvement. These rare conditions occur during difficult deliveries with abnormal presentations, the most common being a breech presentation with entrapment of the fetal head. In a child with hypotonia, flaccid quadriplegia or high thoracic paraplegia after a difficult delivery, a spinal cord injury must be suspected and plain radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) must be performed.