Peter Rosenbaum's vivid characterization, in his excellent Foreword, of the cord as the marginal and apologetic country cousin to the more prominent and influential brain will have resonance with many clinicians. The spine features less both in undergraduate and postgraduate paediatric training than it might, and less than the devastating impact of a spinal cord lesion might justify.
But the country cousin is not without guile. Examples of the often enigmatic role of the cord in a spectrum of clinical situations might include the unidentified cord lesion in a sick and floppy neonate, or in a ventilated child recovering from severe pneumococcal meningitis, the incipient cord compression underlying a strikingly 'non-organic' gait disorder in a teenager, and the increasing awareness of cord involvement in shaken impact syndrome.
The range of subject matter, the complexity of many of the clinical issues, and the variety of expertise engaged in paediatric spinal cord disease were all persuasive reasons for taking up the challenge of editing this book. It was a delight to collaborate with the distinguished and diverse group of clinicians and academics who generously agreed to contribute. Our fascinating, often humorous, and occasionally surreal e-mail traffic over a substantial gestational period could produce a worthy chapter in itself!
I have received kindness, support, and forbearance in equal measure from everyone at Mac Keith Press and am grateful in particular to Peter Baxter, Hilary Hart, Ann-Marie Halligan, Udoka Ohuonu, and Alessy Beaver. Chris Purdon of The Clyvedon Press has been a perceptive and kindly copy-editor, Laurence Errington a precise and rigorous indexer, and KarI Hunt an imaginative cover designer.
Finally, I am most grateful of all to my wife Claire who has been a source of love, support, and perceptive comment throughout the genesis of this book. Michael Pike Children' s Hospital, Oxford, UK May 2013

AUTHORS' APPOINTMENTS ix

FOREWORD xii

Peter Rosenbaum

PREFACE xiv

Michael Pike

1. THE NEUROLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF CHILDREN WITH SPINAL CORD DISORDERS 1

Saleel R Chandratre and Sandeep Jayawant

2. IMAGING THE CORD 21

Gerardine Quaghebeur

3. CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF THE SPINAL CORD 51

Ravi Knight

4. SPINAL CORD MALFORMATIONS 73

Michel Zerah and Abhoya V Kulkarni

5. SPINAL CORD ABSCESS, HAEMORRHAGE, AND TRAUMA 102

Reza Yassari and John Houten

6. TUMOURS OF THE SPINE IN CHILDREN 120

David A Chester, Joseph Noggie, Gary Nicolin, John-Paul Kilday, and George I Jailo

7. INFLAMMATORY, METABOLIC, VASCULAR, AND DEMYELINATING DISORDERS 152

Michael Absoud, Ming J Urn, and Evangeline Wassmer

8. SPECIFIC ISSUES IN MANAGEMENT AND REHABILITATION 186

Lawrence Vogel and Allison Graham

9. PROSPECTS FOR SPINAL CORD REPAIR 225

Elizabeth Muir and Roger Keynes

COLOUR PLATE SECTION

INDEX 241

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