Abstract
Findings on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of 52 children with suspected spinal
dysraphism have been reviewed. In 24, no significant spinal abnormality was demonstrated.
Seven patients had scoliosis or vertebral segmentation anomalies without demonstrable
abnormality of the underlying soft tissues and one had an isolated subcutaneous haemangioma.
In 20 children with spinal dysraphism, a low tethered cord was the most frequent finding,
occurring in 80%. Other manifestations included myelo- or meningocoele (60 %), syringomyelia
(30 %), lipoma (25 %), congenital tumour (20%), diastematomyelia (15%) and thickened
filum terminale (5 %). The relationship between the clinical reason for requesting
MRI and the scan results are discussed.
Key words
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - Spinal dysraphism