Filum Section for Urinary Incontinence in Children with Occult Tethered Cord Syndrome: A Randomized, Controlled Pilot Study.

Purpose: Occult tethered cord syndrome, in which there is normal neuroanatomic imaging despite clinical and urodynamic evidence of neuropathic bladder behavior, is controversial. Several uncontrolled series describe improvement in bladder function following section of the filum terminale. We performed a pilot randomized, controlled study comparing medical treatment to surgical section of the filum plus medical treatment in children with occult tethered cord syndrome.

Utility of neurophysiology in the diagnosis of tethered cord syndrome.

Object: The diagnosis of tethered cord syndrome (TCS) remains difficult, and the decision to operate is even more complex. The objective of this study was to examine how detailed examination of neurophysiological test results can affect the diagnosis for patients undergoing a surgical cord release.

Methods: Patients undergoing tethered spinal cord releases were matched by age and sex with control patients undergoing scoliosis correction in the absence of spinal cord pathology.