[Proton spin tomography in children and adolescents with so-called idiopathic scoliosis]

Somato-sensory evoked potentials (SSEP) were found to be pathological mostly in the lower extremities in 26 out of 45 children suffering from so called idiopathic scoliosis. We examined the vertebral spine and the spinal cord of 8 of them (with controlled SSEP-findings) by use of conventional MR-imaging and (where necessary) 3-dimensional-data-set following the Fournier-procedure. 6 of the 8 children showed alterations as follows: 1. A lipoma spreading partly extra-, partly intraspinally. 2. Subligamentous protrusions of the intervertebral disc (2 patients). 3. Dysraphic processes (2 patients). 4. An abnormally cranial ending myelon surrounded by a widened spinal channel. The findings are demonstrated and discussed concerning the questions whether the pathological SSEP and, furthermore, the deformity of the vertebral spine could be explained thereby. We are at least able to prove that some of the children with so called idiopathic scoliosis show pathological evoked potentials and MRI-findings.