The use of Gore-Tex membrane for adhesion prevention in tethered spinal cord surgery: technical case reports

The incidence of retethering caused by postoperative adhesions at the repair site after initial tethered spinal cord surgery is not uncommon. To assess the effectiveness of a Gore-Tex membrane in preventing these adhesions, only clinical radiological and experimental animal evaluation has been reported. In this report, we describe two cases in which Gore-Tex membrane was implanted at the initial untethering surgery and in which we were able to confirm the real effectiveness of the Gore-Tex membrane during a second operation.

In the first patient, Gore-Tex membrane was used for dural repair in the untethering surgery of the split spinal cord malformation. Because of the suspicion of a thickened filum terminale, repeated surgery was indicated 10 months after the initial procedure. In the second patient, Gore-Tex membrane was implanted during the initial untethering surgery for a lipomyeloschisis and a dermal sinus. Because of a persistent fistula of the dermal sinus, a second operation was necessary 1 year after the first operation.

During the repeated surgery, a thorough inspection of the implanted Gore-Tex membrane revealed no adhesions between the Gore-Tex membrane and the intradural content in both cases.

We support the use of Gore-Tex membrane in the prevention of postoperative dural adhesions in the repair of spinal dysraphism.