Quadriplegia after chiropractic manipulation in an infant with congenital torticollis caused by a spinal cord astrocytoma

Syringomyelic dystonia and athetosis

“…Other cases of secondary torticollis have been related to intramedullary spinal cord disease such as ependymoma, glioma, and inflammatory demyelination. [3][4][5][6][7] Some of these resolved with removal of the spinal tumor. One case of athetosis-dystonia has been reported secondary to an intramedullary tumor, but the outcome was not stated.…”

A Literature Review of Pediatric Spinal Manipulation and Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy: Evaluation of Consistent Use of Safety Terminology

“…12,13 After screening, 9 relevant articles were considered: 2 systematic reviews, 1,15 a recent literature review, 7 2 retrospective studies, 8,10 1 survey, 9 and 3 case studies. [16][17][18] Two case studies reported on the delayed diagnosis of children presenting to chiropractors 16,17 with one not specifying whether spinal manipulation did occur 17 ; the third case study reported a serious adverse reaction/event after spinal manipulation. 18 Three articles reported a methodology for classifying safety incidents.…”

Movement disorder emergencies

“…Visudhiphan et al [134] reported four children with spinal cord tumors (two astrocytomas, one neuroblastoma and one epidural sarcoma) in which torticollis was a prominent presenting sign -in one case torticollis preceded other neurologic signs by 1 month. Shafir and Kaufman [122] reported a disaster in an infant with congenital torticollis due to a spinal cord astrocytoma. Chiropractic manipulation prior to correct diagnosis triggered respiratory arrest and quadriplegia due to tumor necrosis.…”