Pediatric Spinal Subdural Hematoma

  • Etiology: Trauma, coagulopathy
  • Imaging MRI: Occur within dural sac and therefore epidural fat is preserved and dura is not displaced inward
  • DDX: Spinal epidural hematoma
  • Complications:
  • Treatment: Small hematomas resolve on their own while larger ones require surgery
  • Clinical: Less common than spinal epidural hematoma

Radiology Cases of Spinal Subdural Hematoma

Radiology Cases of Cervical Spinal Subdural Hematoma Without Fracture

MRI of spinal subdural hematoma
Sagittal T1 MRI without contrast of the spine (left) shows a small linear high signal intensity fluid collection posterior to the C7 vertebral body that is low signal intensity on sagittal T2 MRI (middle) and dark on sagittal GRE MRI (right).

MRI of subdural hematoma of the cervical spine.
Sagittal T1 (above leftmost), T2 (above left middle), STIR (above right middle) and gradient echo (above rightmost) MRI without contrast of the cervical spine shows a long linear fluid collection anterior to the cervical spinal cord from C1-C7 that is isointense on T1 weighted imaging, mixed isointense and hyperintense on T2 weighted imaging, and hyperintense on STIR and gradient echo imaging. On the axial T1 (below left) and T2 (below right) MRI the fluid collection is oval in shape and is seen anterior to the spinal cord and is causing compression on the spinal cord.