Herniation of intervertebral disc calcification as a reason for spinal cord compression in a young girl

Intervertebral disc calcification in childhood is rare. Calcifications are discovered by occasion during routine examinations of healthy children or evoke symptoms like neck and shoulder pain or discrete neurological symptoms. The prognosis of nearly all patients is excellent. We report on a 11-year-old girl, who suffered from acute pain in the neck and the left shoulder with increasing paresthesias of her left extremities which led to hospitalisation. Intervertebral disc calcifications were found between several cervical and thoracic vertebra. The only paraclinical finding was an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate. After 12 days of conservative and analgetic treatment the clinical condition deteriorated with acute worsening of the neck pain. The MRI revealed a posterior herniation of a calcified disc between the lower cervical spine with spinal cord compression. Immediate neurosurgical intervention led to decompression and disappearance of the symptoms. After 14 months the clinically healthy child only showed the persistence of one intervertebral disc calcification and a complete resolution of the former findings.