Callosal anomalies in patients with spinal dysraphism: correlation of clinical and neuroimaging features with...

Dysgenesis of the corpus callosum can occur in association with spinal dysraphic lesions. Clinical and neuroimaging features were reviewed in 23 patients (12 male, 11 female; mean age 11.3 years) with caudal spinal dysraphism (myeloschisis in eight, meningomyelocele in 10, and lumbosacral lipoma in five) to characterize types and degrees of callosal and other cerebral anomalies. T1- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance images were obtained, and the total midsagittal cross-sectional area of the corpus callosum was determined. The corpus callosum appeared normal in nine patients and was abnormal in 14. In five patients the corpus callosum was narrow, with all regions present; the cerebral hemispheres were hypoplastic. Two patients with dysgenesis of frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes had a small, partly agenetic corpus callosum. In the remaining seven patients the posterior third of the corpus callosum was absent or hypoplastic; six of them had ventriculomegaly that selectively affected the occipital horns (colpocephaly). All callosal anomalies were accompanied by hemispheric ones. This supports a disordered developmental relationship between the corpus callosum and the hemispheres as a cause. Spinal dysraphism can no longer be considered a single developmental abnormality, given the frequent association of other defects.