Penetrating stab injury to the lumbar spinal cord in a child

This article reports the case of an 8-year-old boy with a knife stab injury to the lumbar spine without neurological deficits. The computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a longitudinal penetration of the conus medullaris at the level of the first lumbar vertebra. The knife blade was extracted and primary closure was carried out on the stab wound. The immediately postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as well as the follow-up examinations after 1 and 6 weeks showed no evidence of compressive spinal bleeding, myelopathy or cerebrospinal fluid leakage. In addition, no secondary changes of the neurological status developed. Consequently, in cases of neurologically asymptomatic patients without concomitant injuries the surgical exploration of a stab wound does not seem to be absolutely necessary.