This site is targeted at medical and radiology professionals, contains user contributed content, and material that may be confusing to a lay audience. Use of this site implies acceptance of our Terms of Use.

All Revisions Restore

Revision 17 for 'Diastematomyelia'

Diastematomyelia

A diastematomyelia refers to a type of spinal dysraphism when there is a longitudinal split in the spinal cord.

Location

It can occur involving multiple levels:

50% occur between L1 and L3
25% occur between T7 and T12

Associations

There may be an associated meningocele, neuroenteric cyst or dermoid.

Associated bony, cartilagenous or fibrous spurs project through the dura mater forwards from the neural arch is visible in 33% of cases ¹.

Laminar fusion associated with a neural arch defect is a good predictor of diastematomyelia and occurs the level of the defect, or at an adjacent level.

Other associations include

club foot
spinal cord lipoma
haemangioma overlying spine
unilateral muscle wasting
scoliosis

Radiographic features

Antenatal ultrasound

There presence of an extra echogenic focus in the midline between the foetal spinal posterior elements has been described as a reliable sign ².

Plain film

may show

multi level spina bifida
widening of interpedicular distance : but this may be remote from the site of the spur
as associated scoliosis
anteroposterior narrowing of vertebral bodies

CT

in addition to the pain film features may show

AP bony septum on axial images (case 2)

MRI

It is modality of choice owing to superior anatomical detail. (More content to come)

Differential diagnoses

diplomyelia : which is a true splitting of the spinal cord.

This article is a stub, which means it needs more content. You can contribute to Radiopaedia too. Just register and click edit... every little bit helps.