. (1971). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 46, 291. Transection of the spinal cord: a rare obstetrical complication of cephalic delivery. A newborn infant, delivered following mid-forceps rotation, presented with apnoea, anaesthesia below the level of the mid-neck, and flaccid quadriplegia. At necropsy there was transection of the cord, and atlanto-occipital and atlantoaxial dislocations. Cord injury usually follows breech presentation, the lesion is in the lower cervical or upper thoracic segments, and results from excessive traction. By contrast, in the rare cases following cephalic delivery, the lesion is most often in the upper cervical cord and probably results from rotational forces.A century ago, Parrot (1870) reported the clinical and pathological findings in a 3-day-old baby with cervical spinal cord damage evidenced by intact spinal reflexes and quadriplegia. Necropsy findings included meningeal lacerations and C6,7 cord transection. He related the lesions to the difficult breech delivery, during which 'un craquement tres-fort' had been heard from within the birth canal. Spinal cord injury had been noted previously in the nineteenth century.