Intradural spinal hematoma in an infant with cystic fibrosis

An 8-month-old male infant with cystic fibrosis developed quadriplegia secondary to spinal cord compression. Surgery revealed an extensive intradural hematoma from C3 to T9. An underlying structural source of bleeding was not identified and the patient did not have a coagulopathy. Repeated chest physiotherapy was the only known trauma that the infant had sustained. Spinal subarachnoid and subdural bleeding is a rare form of cord compression that apparently has not been described previously in association with cystic fibrosis. The current vigorous physiotherapeutic approach to cystic fibrosis necessitates awareness of the possible complications of this therapy.