       Document 0639
 DOCN  M9630639
 TI    Atypical and equivocal sonographic features of the spinal cord in
       neonates.
 DT    9603
 AU    Rypens F; Avni EF; Matos C; Pardou A; Struyven J; Department of
       Radiology, Hospital Erasme, Universite Libre de; Bruxelles, Belgium.
 SO    Pediatr Radiol. 1995;25(6):429-32. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE
       MED/96071232
 AB    Thanks to the wider use of sonography to examine the spinal content in
       the neonate, normal anatomy and anomalies may be detected easily. Yet,
       unusual sonographic patterns are also observed. These must be
       differentiated from true pathologies. During a prospective study of 103
       neurologically asymptomatic neonates, atypical sonographic patterns were
       found in 16 patients, corresponding to normal variants in 13. Nine of
       these 13 patients presented with a widening of the distal part of the
       central echo complex (one had a dilated ventriculus terminalis). Nerve
       roots of the cauda equina were disposed asymmetrically in three
       patients; the spinal cord movements were still present. In two of these
       babies, this distribution was associated with thin arachnoid
       pseudocysts. One patient presented with transitorily hyperechoic and
       narrow subdural spaces, probably related to neonatal dehydration. None
       of the 13 patients showing normal variants required any treatment. The
       other 3 patients (of 16) presented with equivocal entities of unknown
       evolution: sonographic tethered cord, fibrolipoma of the filum terminale
       and epidural varices. Sonography is highly accurate in evaluating the
       spinal cord content and aids differentiation of normal and normal
       variants from equivocal or pathological entities.
 DE    Diagnosis, Differential  Follow-Up Studies  Human  Infant, Newborn
       Magnetic Resonance Imaging  Prospective Studies  Spinal
       Cord/*ULTRASONOGRAPHY  Spinal Cord Diseases/*ULTRASONOGRAPHY  JOURNAL
       ARTICLE

       SOURCE: National Library of Medicine.  NOTICE: This material may be
       protected by Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

