title: Self-mutilation in a child with a tethered spinal cord. Case report.
abstract: Self-mutilation after deafferentation injuries has rarely been reported in humans. The authors report on a 16-year-old girl who was born with a myelomeningocele. In adolescence it was noted that concurrent with her spinal cord becoming symptomatically tethered she began to self-mutilate her digits. A rare manifestation of the tethered spinal cord may be dysesthesias that led to self-mutilation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. richard.tubbs@uab.edu
authors.forename: R Shane
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Tubbs
authors.forename: W Jerry
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Oakes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001416:Back Pain / Q000209:etiology; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005383:Finger Injuries; D006801:Humans; D008161:Lumbosacral Region; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000150:complications*