title: Spine ultrasounds should not be routinely performed for patients with simple sacral dimples.
abstract: Primary care providers commonly obtain spine ultrasounds for neonates with simple sacral dimples due to perceived concerns about underlying spinal dysraphism, despite a lack of scientific evidence. Nine papers addressing routine spine ultrasounds for children with sacral dimples showed that 3.4% of the 5166 patients had abnormal spine ultrasounds, compared with the 4.8% reported by another study for children without sacral dimples. Most of the abnormal findings in patients with sacral dimples were of no clinical significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sacral dimples do not predict underlying spinal cord malformations, and spine ultrasounds should not be performed for neonates with simple sacral dimples.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock, AR, USA.|Department of Neurosurgery, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Albert
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012445:Sacrococcygeal Region; D016135:Spinal Dysraphism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D013131:Spine / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014463:Ultrasonography
keywords: Dermal sinus tract; Neonate; Sacral dimple; Spine ultrasound; Tethered spinal cord