[A rare cause of occult neuropathic bladder in children: the tethered cord syndrome].

The tethered cord syndrome is a form of spinal dysraphism in which a short, thickened filum terminale prevents the ascent of the conus medullaris and intraspinal lipoma causes compression upon the caudal part of the spinal cord. In pediatric age the first symptoms are urological: urinary incontinence and infection. Diagnosis is performed with urodynamic studies followed by nuclear magnetic resonance. Tethered cord syndrome is no obvious cause of a neurogenic bladder. When this pathological conditions is recognized properly and an operation is performed early the likelihood of improvement is rather high. The authors report a case of tethered cord syndrome in a girl seven years old.