Symptomatic protocols for adult tethered cord syndrome.

Diagnosis of tethered cord syndrome (TCS) is complicated because anatomical information is not adequate for this task. For example, recent studies have shown that the combination of an elongated cord and a thick filum terminale, demonstrated by MRI or at operation, is no longer an essential feature for the diagnosis of TCS. For TCS diagnosis, emphasis should rather be on its characteristic symptomatology and accentuated by postural changes, since TCS is a functional disorder of the lumbosacral spinal cord. In this report, the authors present the list of signs and symptoms pertinent to TCS in adult and late teenage patients to serve as a diagnostic means.