Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 28, 2025
Intraoperative Ultrasound in Spinal Surgery
Published on: August 17, 2022
Imaging evolution from "presyrinx" to syrinx in patient with spinal lipoma
Kiyoharu Shimizu1, Takafumi Mitsuhara1, Masaaki Takeda1
1Department of Neurosurgery, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
Background:
The evolution of syrinx formation has rarely been documented. Here, we report a patient whose "presyrinx" evolved on successive magnetic resonance (MR) images to a mature syrinx.
Case Description:
A patient had a lipoma and tethered cord at birth. At 3 weeks of age, he had undergone a partial removal of the lipoma and untethering of the spinal cord. At age 6, the thoracic MR images showed edema within the gray matter of the cord at the T7 level, consistent with a "presyrinx." In addition, subsequent MR studies (i.e., at age 7) showed a small cavity in the right posterior horn of the cord accompanied by further expansion throughout the right-sided gray matter. Despite repeated cord untethering at age 7, the T7 parenchymal cord change evolved into a mature syrinx by age 10.
Conclusion:
An infant with a lipoma/tethered cord, despite two instances of cord detethering (i.e., ages 3 weeks and 7 years), showed continued MR evolution of a "presyrinx" to a mature syrinx by age 10.
