A case of neonatal spinal cord injury: magnetic resonance imaging and somatosensory evoked potentials.

This is the first case report on the diagnosis of spinal cord injury due to hemorrhage during the neonatal period using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Somatosensory evoked potentials are also helpful in the functional demonstration of this lesion. When discrepant signs, alert consciousness and intact cranial nerves are observed in newborn babies with flaccid extremities and respiratory disturbance, the immediate carrying out of MRI is mandatory in order to differentiate spinal cord injury from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, cerebral hemorrhage, and neuromuscular disease.