Frontal bone agenesis in a patient of spinal dysraphism.

Associated cranial abnormalities with spinal dysraphism are not uncommon. We came across an unusual case of a 1-year-old male child with spinal dysraphism having lumbar meningomyelocele, who also had split cord malformation (hemicord with intervening bony spur) with lipoma of one of the hemicord and filum terminale. The patient also had communicating hydrocephalus without Chiari malformation and also near-total frontal bone agenesis. Single photon emission computed tomography scanning of brain revealed normal perfusion. In the first stage of repair, the patient had postoperative CSF leak for which ventriculo-peritoneal shunt was performed. This constitutes a rare anomaly associated with spinal dysraphism. Copyright 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel