Cerebellar mutism following closed head injury in a child

Cerebellar mutism is a rare occurrence following paediatric trauma. Although it is quite common after posterior fossa surgery in children, this phenomenon has rarely been reported following other insults, such as trauma, and its pathophysiology remains poorly understood. We report a seven-year-old child who presented to the casualty department of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Muscat, Oman, in May 2013 with a traumatic right cerebellar contusion. The child presented with clinical features of cerebellar mutism but underwent a rapid and spontaneous recovery. The possible mechanism of this occurrence is discussed.