Diastematomyelia in adults. A report of two cases incidentally discovered

We describe two cases of incidentally discovered split cord malformations in adults undergoing MR for symptoms unrelated to that malformation. Case 1 is an 80-year-old woman with pain due to a D7 and D8 vertebral body compression fracture resistant to medical treatment where we performed D7 and D8 percutaneous vertebroplasty with no complications and satisfactory pain control. Case 2 is a 59-year-old woman with L5 radiculopathy due to L5-S1 spondilolysthesis who had a satisfactory pain relief under medical treatment. The implementation and worldwide diffusion of MR revealed that diastematomyelia, split cord malformations traditionally seen in children, may be less rare than we thought in adults and can remain asymptomatic.