1 of 2 DESCRIPTION An 11-year-old girl was hospitalised because of a large mass in her back ( fi gure 1 ). She was the second child in her family where there was neither twin pregnancy nor fetal malformation. The large mass has two parts where the upper part consists of a mammary gland and an attached upper limb including a scapular, humerus and two fi ngers, and where the lower part contains a...

Caudal regression syndrome is a pathology caused by anomaly of spinal trunk ‘ending’, and encompasses a wide range of anomalies of the hind end of the trunk, including partial agenesis of the thoracolumbosacral spine, imperforate anus, malformed genitalia, bilateral renal dysplasia or aplasia, pulmonary hypoplasia, and in the most severe deformities, extreme external rotation and fusion of the ...

We reviewed 104 consecutive cases of closed dysraphism in patients seen at one institution between December 1984 and June 1987. All patients had myelographic studies, and 43 had associated CT examinations. Clinical and surgical findings (64 patients) were correlated with myelographic information. Twenty-three patients (22%) with clinical or plain film findings compatible with dysraphism had nor...

Segmental vessel ligation during anterior spinal surgery has been associated with paraplegia. However, the incidence and risk factors for this devastating complication are debated. We reviewed 346 consecutive paediatric and adolescent patients ranging in age from three to 18 years who underwent surgery for anterior spinal deformity through a thoracic or thoracoabdominal approach, during which 2...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of meningomyelocele sac size on prognosis by retrospective review of 64 cases operated for meningomyelocele between January 2009 and December 2012. METHODS We evaluated newborn babies operated for meningomyelocele by retrospectively reviewing their files for head circumference, location and with of the defect, accompanying anomalies, treatments administered, dr...

The present study investigated the benefits of intraoperative ultrasonographic guidance during the surgical repair of congenital cystic spinal dysraphic lesions. Twenty-one children with cystic spinal dysraphism who underwent surgical repair were examined by real-time ultrasonography during the surgical intervention. Five children had meningoceles, six had myelomeningoceles, four had open neura...

Introduction Spinal dysraphism is a term which was revived by Lichtenstein (1940) under which he grouped disorders arising from cutaneous, mesodermal or neural derivatives of the dorsal median region of the developing embryo. Within this broad classification must be included the sub-groups of spina bifida aperta with myeloschisis, myelomeningocele or meningocele and spina bifida occulta with or...