Terminal ventriculostomy for syringomyelia

Abstract

The clinical course of 12 patients who underwent terminal ventriculostomy for syringomyelia was presented. Opening the central canal at the tip of the conus medullaris was a relatively benign procedure that improved the symptoms of syringomyelia and syringobulbia. This canal normally terminates at the tip of the conus, but in each of the 12 surgical specimens it continued into the filum terminale for distances up to 8 cm. In most cases the tip of the conus was located more caudally than normal, indicating some degree of tethering in fetal life. This belief was supported by the fact that the newborn, whose conus is tethered to a lipoma at the sacral level, may develop syringomyelia in adult life.