Annular Fissures Strongly Associated With Cervical Spinal Cord Infarction in Children

In a retrospective case-control study of 156 children, annular fissures were strongly associated with possible fibrocartilaginous embolism causing cervical cord infarction: 16/18 cases had fissures vs controls, odds ratio 30.06 (CI 6.53–138.30).

• Annular fissures occurred in 88.9% (16/18) of possible pediatric fibrocartilaginous embolism cases versus 28.8% overall in the combined cohort.
• Odds ratios remained high versus both control groups: 31.60 (CI 6.70–148.83) vs children without myelopathy and 26.66 (CI 5.13–138.56) vs non-compressive cervical myelopathy.
• All 156 children showed nuclear degeneration at one or more disc levels.

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