["Partial diastematomyelia" in an adult with a posterior bony spur]

Diastematomyelia is rarely diagnosed in adulthood, and apparently 8 cases only have been reported. We report here a 59 year-old woman who recently experienced backpain with irradiations to lower limbs, mild distal weakness and sphincter disturbances. Diastematomyelia was suspected because of a history of lumbar "cutaneous malformation" operated when 4 month old, and a hairy patch over the lumbar spine. C.T. scan showed diastematomyelia and revealed a posterior spur of bone protruding into the sagittal plane from the posterior part of L3 and L4 and dividing the posterior part of the low inserted spinal cord. It appears that, when diastematomyelia has been diagnosed in adulthood, the level of the malformation was lower than when diagnosed in childhood.