A Pediatric Radiology textbook and Pediatric Radiology digital library
Tethered Cord
Etiology: failure of closure of posterior neural tube
Imaging: thick filum terminale, low conus medullaris (conus should be above L2-L3 disc), can still have tethered cord if conus above L2-L3 disc but there is fatty infiltration of filum terminale
Clinical: occult skin covered spinal dysraphism, most mild dysraphism
Cases of Tethered Cord
Sagittal T1 (left) and T2 (right) MRI of the lumbar spine shows a low-lying conus medullaris of the spinal cord which terminates at S1. The T11/T12 vertebral body areas of low signal intensity on T1 and high signal intensity on T2 were felt to be due to aggressive Schmorl nodes as the patient had no clinical signs of infection.