Abstract
Spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormalities (SCIWORA) is unique to children due to the elasticity of the spinal cord. Children present with complete or incomplete findings and as the name describes, there is no evidence of pathology on radiographs or computed tomography. Children with this injury require careful physical exam and scrutiny of the imaging before proceeding with further imaging studies, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), looking for soft tissue injury as well as rupture of the tectorial membrane. Intramedullary hemorrhage is a poor prognosis. Patients are typically immobilized until they display clinical evidence of healing and are stable on flexion and extension radiographs. Any late instability is treated with surgical intervention.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Herzenberg JE, Hensinger RN, Dedrick DK et al (1989) Emergency transport and positioning of young children who have an injury of the cervical spine. The standard backboard may be hazardous. J Bone Joint Surg 71(1):15–22
Jones T, Anderson P, Noonan K (2011) Pediatric cervical spine trauma. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 19:600–611
Loder R (2014) The cervical spine. In: Weinstein SL, Flynn JM (eds) Lovell and Winter’s Pediatric orthopedics, 7th edn. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, pp 821–893
Pang D, Pollack IF (1989) Spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality in children – the SCIWORA syndrome. J Trauma 29(5):654–664
Warner W, Hedequist D (2010) Cervical spine injuries in children. In: Beaty JH, Kasser JR (eds) Rockwood and Wilkin’s fractures in children, 7th edn. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, pp 685–722
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Heydemann, J.A., Kaufman, B.E., Shah, S.A. (2020). Spinal Cord Injury Without Radiographic Abnormalities (SCIWORA). In: Iobst, C., Frick, S. (eds) Pediatric Orthopedic Trauma Case Atlas. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29980-8_75
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29980-8_75
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29979-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29980-8
eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine