The urological manifestations of the tethered spinal cord.

The tethered cord is the fixation of the cord resulting in stretching as growth occurs. In this paper, three cases of tethered cord with symptoms related to the urinary tract were presented. In the first case, a 12-year-old girl presenting with abdominal pain and urinary incontinence had bilateral hydronephrosis and neurogenic bladder due to a tethered cord without having any other neuropathological manifestation. In the second case, an eight-year-old girl presented with enuresis and a mass in her back was found to have a lipomyomeningocele, hyperactive tendon reflexes in the lower limbs and pes cavus. Tethered cord associated with lipomyomeningocele caused a neurogenic bladder and bilateral hydronephrosis. In the third case, a seven-month-old girl presented with hydrocephalus as well as bilateral dilation of the renal pelvis, unilateral ureteral duplication and vesicoureteral reflux. A tethered cord was revealed in this patient, who had a meningomyelocele operation in the neonatal period. Renal function test in the first two cases were abnormal.