Epidemiology of Tethered Cord Syndrome With a Normally Positioned Conus in Children

Incidence and Prevalence

• 18% of TCS in one series: In the authors’ original report (35) their 12-year experience with 73 patients having TCS was reviewed. Of these, 13 (18%) had a cord termination at or above the L1-L2 vertebral disk space. The mean age for this group was 11.3 years.

Sex Predilection

• None

Geographic distribution

• None

Risk Factors

• None

Relationships to Other Disease States and Syndromes

• Familial neural tube defects: In patients with occult spinal dysraphism, there may be a greater likelihood of family members having open neural tube defects. However, this is not specific for patients with tethered cords with a normally positioned conus.
• Other syndromes: Occult spinal dysraphism is also associated with various syndromes including caudal agenesis, cloacal extrophy, VATER and VATER-like syndromes.