Traumatic spine injuries in children: Experience on 434 cases and therapeutic perspectives

Abstract

Traumatic spine injuries in pediatric patients have a low incidence, mainly due to a more flexible spine and is a specific matter in comparison to spinal injury in adults. Pediatric spine fractures constitute 1 to 3% of all pediatric fractures. Between 20 % and 60% of the fractures occur in the lumbar and thoracic spine. These spine injury appeared most frequently in sport events, followed by traffic events and accidental falling. The vast majority of the children with spinal trauma had grade D and E lesions on Frankel scale and had a good recovery in 1 to 3 months after the event. Prognosis and outcome is better in children with spine trauma, reducing toward adolescence and in young adults and the death rate was extremely low compared to the adult population.