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.
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.