Occult spinal cord abnormalities in children referred for orthopedic complaints.

This study reviews spinal cord abnormalities found in children initially referred for an orthopedic problem. Over a 5-year period in an academic pediatric orthopedic referral clinic, 167 children aged 3 months to 18 years (average, 9.4 years) underwent spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and had records available for review. The patients were divided into 7 major groups based on the primary indication for the MRI. The frequency of spinal cord pathology was as follows: 3 of 35 patients with atypical idiopathic scoliosis, 1 of 19 with neuromuscular scoliosis, 6 of 18 with congenital scoliosis, 1 of 50 with unexplained back pain, 3 of 17 with gait abnormality, 5 of 14 with limb pain or weakness, and 4 of 8 with rigid or recurrent foot deformity. Spine MRI was not very helpful in evaluating children who had some degree of back pain without neurological signs or symptoms. However, the spine MRI was helpful in evaluating children with atypical idiopathic scoliosis or congenital scoliosis, gait abnormality, limb pain or weakness, or rigid or recurrent foot deformities. Given the high frequency of occult spinal cord abnormality in children with severe foot deformity, the use of screening spine MRI may be especially useful in this group.