title: The accuracy of abnormal lumbar sonography findings in detecting occult spinal dysraphism: a comparison with magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to correlate lumbar ultrasound (LUS) and MRI findings in patients suspected of having occult spinal dysraphism (OSD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Over a 5-year period, 1273 consecutive infants underwent an LUS study at a major pediatric tertiary referral center. Of these, 106 patients had abnormal LUS findings suggestive of an OSD, and 103 underwent subsequent MRI studies. The anatomical descriptions of the 2 studies were compared for agreement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age of the infants was 34 days at the time of the LUS study; OSD was suspected in these patients because of the presence of cutaneous stigmata and congenital defects. The most common anatomical descriptions from the LUS study included a thickened or fatty filum (32 cases), filum cyst (11 cases), and presence of a terminal ventricle or syrinx (9 cases). Using MRI findings as the standard reference, the sensitivity of LUS in detecting a thickened or fatty filum was 20%. The sensitivity of detecting an abnormal conus level at or below L-3 was 76.9%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the patient population chosen to undergo LUS studies, abnormal findings had poor sensitivity at detecting anatomical findings consistent with OSD.
authors: Pediatric Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital, Birmingham, AL, USA. Joshua.Chern@Choa.org
authors: Joshua J
authors: JJ
authors: Chern
authors: Baran
authors: B
authors: Aksut
authors: Jennifer L
authors: JL
authors: Kirkman
authors: Mohammadali M
authors: MM
authors: Shoja
authors: R Shane
authors: RS
authors: Tubbs
authors: Stuart A
authors: SA
authors: Royal
authors: John C
authors: JC
authors: Wellons
authors: Curtis J
authors: CJ
authors: Rozzelle
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography