Tethered cord syndrome: 5 year clinical experiences and surgical results

Abstract

Aim: Occult spinal dysraphism, which manifests with motor and sensory disturbances in children and causes orthopedic deformities in the lower extremities and urological findings, is the result of developmental defects in the caudal part of the neural tube. One of the most common spinal dysraphism is tethered cord syndrome (TCS). In this study, patients who had been diagnosed with TCS in the past 5 years were retrospectively reviewed and clinical, radiological and surgical characteristics of these patients were tried to be revealed. Material and Methods:We retrospectively reviewed the data about 26 patients with the diagnosis of TCS in our clinic between 2011-2015. The results of these surgeries were evaluated by age, gender, additional malformations, clinic symptoms, radiological and electrophysiological evaluation. The patient with urological symptoms was additionally performed in urodynamic tests. Results: These 26 cases, 23% were children and 77% were adults. 81% of the patients were male and 19% female. Only 3.8% of the patients were primary TCS, 96.2% of the patients had other malformations. Urine incontinence was found in 19.2% of the patients and orthopedic deformities were found in 7.7% of the patients. Surgical treatment was done to 65% of the patients, and 35% of the patients were followed because they didn't want to be operated. Conclusion: Tethered cord syndrome is usually not seem alone, it is associated with other developmental defects of the spine and spinal cord. If surgery done earlier, the greater the likelihood of regression of the neurological deficit or stablization the deficits.