Question
What should I do if my child has spinal cord tethering and spinal cleft?
Answer
There is a small indentation, about 3 millimeters in size with a 1*1.5 millimeter skin abnormality and depression, above the child’s buttocks at birth. A magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed that the tip of the spinal cord is now at the superior margin of L4. The examination concluded: spinal cord tethering, spinal cleft, and abnormal signals at the L5-S1 vertebral level in the northern part. There can be a small indentation above the anal canal, near the coccyx, due to the complex human anatomy, and not everyone is born with the same appearance. I often see this kind of situation in clinical practice. You don’t need to worry. Hidden spinal cleft is actually not as horrible as you imagine. When I examine some adults over 45 for lower back pain, I often take an X-ray first, and sometimes this disease is detected, and the patient was previously unaware of it and did not have any abnormal symptoms. X-rays are absolutely not suitable for examining such young children.