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Published in: Child's Nervous System 9/2015

01-09-2015 | Original Paper

Missed limited dorsal myeloschisis: an unfortunate cause for recurrent tethered cord syndrome

Authors: Sandip Chatterjee, K. Santosh Mohan Rao

Published in: Child's Nervous System | Issue 9/2015

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Abstract

Aim

This study aims to highlight the recurrent tethered cord syndrome in relation to the relatively new pathological entity of limited dorsal myeloschisis (LDM) and to mention the difficulties faced by the paediatric neurosurgeon in developing countries with reference to LDM which was not recognized at initial presentation.

Materials and methods

We present three cases of recurrent tethered cord syndrome who were operated early in life (not by paediatric neurosurgeons) as meningoceles and who were then subsequently referred to the senior author as they presented with clinical signs of re-tethering of the cord.

Results

The first child of 1 year of age represented with cervicodorsal swelling 10 months after primary surgery for a cervical meningomyelocele done elsewhere on the second day of life. The second was a girl of 3 years of age who was operated at birth and presented with severe brachialgia and neck pain after 2 years. The third was a 19-year-old girl operated at birth presenting with spastic paraparesis and also hand weakness associated with kyphosis. All the three patients improved symptomatically and neurologically after redo surgery.

Conclusion

The diagnosis of LDMs, especially in developing countries, is frequently missed. This needs to be tackled and addressed so that children with this subset of neural tube defects, who otherwise would normally have a very good outcome, may not be blighted and left scarred for life at an early age.
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Metadata
Title
Missed limited dorsal myeloschisis: an unfortunate cause for recurrent tethered cord syndrome
Authors
Sandip Chatterjee
K. Santosh Mohan Rao
Publication date
01-09-2015
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Child's Nervous System / Issue 9/2015
Print ISSN: 0256-7040
Electronic ISSN: 1433-0350
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-015-2774-7

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