Hangman's fracture or primary spondylolysis: a patient and a brief review.

Recognizing cervical fractures in the younger patient is often difficult. Potential fractures may look like congenital lesions or normal uncalcified synchondroses. We report a three month old infant with a subtle hangman's fracture which might have been confused with primary spondylolysis. The traumatic nature of the defect was confirmed by serial plain films and CT. In addition to showing the value of serial studies, we believe that this is the youngest confirmed case of hangman's fracture reported to date. The literature is reviewed.