Teardrop Fracture in Children

Assessment

• Flexion injury: A teardrop fracture is an indicator of an anterior flexion force injury with a resulting fracture of the anterior inferior corner of the vertebral body. It commonly occurs below the axis, but occasionally it can occur at C2.
• Associated interspinous and facet disruption: The injury includes disruption of associated facet space; it is usually visible as widening on lateral films. It includes widening of the interspinous space and may include avulsion fractures of the spinous processes.
• Disk injury: Disk space narrowing and/or angulation may be apparent on plain x-ray.

Teardrop fracture of C2 A fracture of the anterior inferior body of C2 is demonstrated on CT. On sagittal T2-weighted MRI scan, there is evidence of soft signal change between the spinous processes of C2 and C3.