Surgical and Medical Management of Pediatric Spine Trauma.

Abstract

Pediatric spine trauma is rare but presents unique challenges to clinical management. Special considerations include but are not limited to the need to minimize ionizing radiation in this patient population, anatomic immaturity, physiologic variants, and injuries seen only in the pediatric population. Here we review the epidemiology of pediatric spine trauma, presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of the most common injuries and discuss specific medical and surgical strategies for treatment.