Adult Versus Pediatric Tethered Cord Syndrome: Clinicoradiological Differences and its Management

Dysraphic lesions in adults, presenting clinically as tethered cord syndrome (TCS), are relatively rare, and their optimal management remains controversial.

We performed a retrospective analysis of our pediatric database over a period of last 7 years to focus on the adult TCS. Our aim was to determine the clinicoradiological and etiopathological differences between adult and pediatric patients as well as to determine the results of surgery in adult TCS.

Adult spinal dysraphisms constituted 15.4% of our patients (20 out of 130). Motor weakness, sphincteric dysfunction, and backache (n = 13, 65.0% each) predominated in adults unlike children who presented with subcutaneous swellings (n = 74, 67.6%) followed by motor weakness (n = 40, 46.4%), backache being reported by only three patients. The different pathologic substrates underlying adult dysraphisms were lipomeningocele (n = 8), split cord malformation (total = 7; Type 1: n = 5; Type 2: n = 2), dermal sinus (n = 2), and fatty filum (n = 3). On the other hand, meningomyelocele/meningocele (61, 54.9%) followed by split cord malformation Type 1 and 2 (n = 29, 26.1%) predominated in children. The radiological differences between the two groups were a higher incidence of vertebral body defects (hemivertebrae and butterfly vertebrae) and lack of intracranial anomalies in adults. At a mean follow-up of 20.5 months, the most common symptoms to improve following detethering were pain (11 out of 13, 84.6%) followed by motor weakness (six out of 13, 56.2%) and sphincteric control (7 out of 13, 53.8%).

Most common symptoms to improve following detethering in adult TCS were pain followed by motor weakness. The major radiological differences between these two groups were a higher incidence of vertebral body defects (hemivertebrae and butterfly vertebrae) and lack of intracranial anomalies in adults.