Review of tethered cord syndrome with a radiological and anatomical study: case report

The primary tethered cord syndrome has been documented mainly in children and adolescents but also in adults, and patients may present with backache, neuromuscular skeletal changes such as club-foot, scoliosis, muscular atrophy, disturbances of gait, or dysfunction of bladder and rectum, or a combination of these conditions. The cadaveric case presented describes plain film radiographic and anatomical findings of spina bifida occulta at the first and second sacral levels, and an enlarged spinous process of the fifth lumbar vertebra, in a 78 year old male cadaver with a tethered spinal cord terminating at the first sacral level. During life, this man had not undergone surgery for tethered spinal cord.