Child Abuse Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Child Abuse, including details on family violence, examinations, long-term effects, psychiatrics disorders.

Intentional avulsion fracture of the second cervical vertebra in a hypotonic child.

Oral R, Rahhal R, Elshershari H, Menezes AH

Child Protection Program, USA. resmiye-oral@uiowa.edu

Children uncommonly present with cervical fractures due to high-impact injuries. A 4-year-old child with developmental delay and chronic hypotonia presented to the hospital with acute onset of irritability and transient difficulty in walking. Lateral neck x-rays showed avulsion fracture of the second cervical vertebra. Neck magnetic resonance imaging study showed injury to the interspinal ligaments between the first and second cervical vertebrae in addition to confirming the acute avulsion fracture of C-2. The child was injured after he was thrown onto a bed from a distance of 1 to 2 ft according to his babysitter's admission. This is the first reported pediatric case presenting this type of inflicted fracture in a hypotonic child, although hypotonia may not have played a causal role.

Published 22 May 2006 in Pediatr Emerg Care, 22(5): 352-4.
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