Breech Delivery in Its Possible Relations to Injury of the Spinal Cord

Birth injuries of the spinal cord resulting from breech extraction have been known to pathologists for many years. Probably the first case of this nature was reported by Parrot1in 1870. Since then occasional cases of cord injury from breech extraction have been found in almost every considerable series of necropsies on the stillborn. Good descriptions of the pathologic findings may be found in articles by Spencer,2Warwick3and Stoltzenberg4Among obstetricians, injury to the cervical cord is recognized as a rare cause of infant mortality; but the standard textbooks of neurology and of pediatrics do not mention obstetrical injuries of the cord as a cause of spinal paraplegia. Apparently, it is generally believed that the lesion is always fatal within a few days after birth. Scattered reports of patients who survived birth injuries to the cord for longer periods, however, have appeared from time to time.