SPINAL CORD DAMAGE FROM INJECTION OF PENICILLIN

Penicillin injected into the buttock, either into or near the nerve, may cause paralysis of the sciatic distribution. Sloughs sometimes follow shallow injection of antibiotics, and anaphylactic shock occasionally follows penicillin administration, although this is rare in children. Two communications in the May issue of the American Journal of Diseases of Children discuss the results of retrograde intra-arterial injection of particulate penicillin in three children.^1,2 All had bilateral lowerextremity arterial spasm and evidence of damage within the spinal cord. In one patient unilateral muscle paresis was transient; in a second it was somewhat more prolonged; and in the third, damage to the cord caused transverse myelitis with flaccidity of both lower extremities, anesthesia below the pelvic brim, and loss of sphincter control of bladder and rectum, with almost no recovery within six months. The ischemic gangrene of the injected buttock of one patient extended into the vulva and thigh