Abstract
Objective: To report an unusual penetrating stab injury of the spinal cord.
Design: Case report of a 13-year-old boy who sustained cervical trauma following an accident while playing.
Setting: Spinal Cord Injuries Unit, Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast, UK.
Case report: Mechanism of injury was by a spear-like electric fence post entering the neck. Initial neurological examination revealed tetraplegia with C4 sensory level. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of spinal cord demonstrates the penetrating injury.
Conclusion: No ligamentous instability was demonstrated. In the absence of this, the penetrating injury by a short blade thrown at speed was felt to be responsible for the subsequent injury and resulting outcome at discharge of C4 American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) grade D tetraplegia.
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O'Neill, S., McKinstry, C. & Maguire, S. Unusual stab injury of the spinal cord. Spinal Cord 42, 429–430 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.sc.3101602
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.sc.3101602
