[Tethered cord syndrome in adults]

The authors present a description of three patients in whom symptoms of spinal cord injury developed late after opening of the dural sac of the spinal canal. The material comes from two female and one male patients of age 37-47 years. In the first case the symptoms included increased paraesthesia, pain, paraparesis and sphincter disorders, which appeared 16 years after stab wound of meninges and the spinal cord at Th10. In the second patient, operated on for myelomeningocele at L3-4 at the age of five, sphincter disorders, trophic changes of feet and paraparesis appeared. The third patient was operated on for intra- and extramedullary lipoma at Th9-12. Seven months after the operation symptoms of sphincter disorders, pain, paraesthesia and paraparesis developed. The MR examination showed in all patients an adhesion of the posterior or posterolateral surface of the spinal cord with the dura mater at the sites of injury, which was confirmed intraoperatively. An operative treatment improved the clinical state. The tethering of the cord by the scar was the cause of a non-physiological stretching of the spinal cord on flexion of the body and head. It led to spinal circulation disorders and symptoms of myelopathy. It has been observed that the onset of the symptoms is often caused by sudden stretching of the spinal cord during fall or intense physical exercises. In such cases operative release of the spinal cord from the adhesion is a method of choice.