Turk Cezmi Cagri, Kara Niyazi Nefi, Bacanli Ali
Antalya Education and Research Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery, Antalya Turkey.
Turk Neurosurg. 2016;26(1):140-5. doi: 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.12199-14.1.
The human tail is a term to describe skin-covered protrusions in the lumbosacral and coccygeal region, ascribing to the resemblance to the tails in the animals. The first reports dates back to second half of the 19th century, the etiological bases could not been ascertained yet. They are mainly classified as true or pseudo-tails.
Five cases with human tails were diagnosed and managed in our hospital between 2010 and 2014. Their demographic and lesion characteristics are presented.
Three of the 5 cases were male patients. The ages ranged between 1 day and 50 years at the time of diagnosis. The patients were diagnosed basically by the external appearance of the lesions without neurological deficits. Detailed examination revealed several associated lesions: two dermal sinus tracts, one tethered spinal cord and one club-foot in one-day preemie. Two patients had true and 3 had pseudo-tails. Four of them underwent surgery but the last one did not accept surgery. Surgery consisted of simple excision of the lesion in 2 patients with true tails and excision and removal of dermal sinus tract and untethering when necessary in the other 2 pseudo-tails.
The presented study indicated that true human tails are simple skin appendages without any associated spinal anomalies. However, pseudo-tails are potentially complex lesions with a high risk of spinal dysraphisms; warranting further diagnostic work-up and more extensive surgical technique if necessary. The key to managing human tails is making a clear distinction between true tails and pseudo-tails.
人类尾巴是用于描述腰骶部和尾骨区域皮肤覆盖的突出物的术语，因其与动物尾巴相似而得名。最早的报告可追溯到19世纪下半叶，但其病因尚未确定。它们主要分为真性或假性尾巴。
2010年至2014年间，我院诊断并处理了5例人类尾巴病例。现介绍其人口统计学和病变特征。
5例中有3例为男性患者。诊断时年龄在1天至50岁之间。患者基本通过病变外观诊断，无神经功能缺损。详细检查发现了一些相关病变：1例1日龄早产儿有两条皮样窦道、1例脊髓栓系和1例马蹄内翻足。2例为真性尾巴，3例为假性尾巴。其中4例接受了手术，但最后1例不接受手术。手术包括对2例真性尾巴患者单纯切除病变，对另外2例假性尾巴患者切除并去除皮样窦道，必要时松解脊髓栓系。
本研究表明，真性人类尾巴是简单的皮肤附属器，无任何相关脊柱异常。然而，假性尾巴可能是复杂病变，脊柱裂风险高；如有必要，需要进一步的诊断检查和更广泛的手术技术。处理人类尾巴的关键是明确区分真性尾巴和假性尾巴。
