Spinal cord damage in a newborn infant

Abstract

A neurologically abnormal infant who died at the age of 8 wk was found to have spinal cord atrophy involving about 2.5 cm in the midcervical region. He was asphyxiated during birth and was delivered by breech extraction. Spinal cord injury was probably related to trauma associated with breech extraction. Asphyxiated babies are usually hypotonic and therefore may be particularly liable to sustain spinal injury.