Congenital dermal sinus tract is a rare entity which lined by epithelial cells and can end anywhere between subcutaneous planes to thecal sac. These tracts may be accompanied with other pathologies such as lipomyelomeningocele, myelomeningocele, split cord malformation, tethered cord, filum abnormality and inclusion tumors and treatment includes resection of tract with intradural exploration. The authors review their experience with 16 cases. Clinical, radiological appearance and treatment of these lesions discussed with literature review.

Background:Tethered cord syndrome (TCS) is a progressive clinical entity that arises from abnormal spinal cord tension. Scoliosis may be a unique symptom in TCS. The aim of this study is to investigate prognosis after releasing the filum terminale in scoliosis due to TCS with/without findings in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to draw attention to the importance of somatosensorial evoked potentials (SSEP) on the differential diagnosis of idiopathic scoliosis versus scoliosis due to TCS with normal appearance of filum terminale and conus medullaris.Materials and Methods:Eleven female and seven male patients with progressive scoliosis were included in the study. They were evaluated radiologically, SSEP and urodynamical studies. Preoperative and postoperative anteroposterior full spine X-rays were obtained for measuring the Cobb's angle. MRI was performed in all cases for probable additional spinal abnormalities. All patients underwent filum terminale sectioning through a L5 hemilaminectomy. The resected filum terminale were subjected to histopathological examination.Results:The mean Cobb angle was 31.6° (range 18°–45°). Eight patients (44.45%) had a normal appearance of filum terminale and normal level conus medullaris in MRI, but conduction delay and/or block was seen on SSEP. In the histopathological examination of filum terminale dense collagen fibers, hyaline degeneration and loss of elastic fibers were observed. Postoperatively none of the patients showed worsening of the Cobb angle. Three patients showed improvement of scoliosis.Conclusion:In TCS presented with scoliosis, untethering must be performed prior to the corrective spinal surgery. Absence of MRI findings does not definitely exclude TCS. SSEP is an important additional guidance in the diagnosis of TCS. After untethering, a followup period of 6 months is essential to show it untethering helps in stopping the progress of the scoliotic curve. In spite of non progression (curve stopped lesser than 45°) or even improvement of scoliosis, there may be no need for major orthopedic surgical intervention.

AIm:The aim of this study was to describe the results of surgery performed in a group of adult patients with tethered cord syndrome with their outcomes. mAterIAl and methOds: This retrospective study included 56 patients. There were 38 females and 18 males. All patients were older than 18 years. results:The mean age at referral was 36 years and 1 month. The mean follow-up period was 10 months 27 days. 95% of all patients with back and leg pains improved and 5% remained the same. Three patients with motor deficits remained the same in the postoperative period. Of the 16 patients with urological complaints, 10 improved, 5 unchanged and 1 patient died in the postoperative first day due to pulmonary embolism. COnClusIOn:The syndrome of tethered cord may be a situation to be treated even in the elderly in case of normal level conus medullaris and filum terminale with a normal appearance as well as a low-lying conus and thick filum. To prevent overlooking the diagnosis of tethered cord and/or unnecessary spinal surgeries, the tethered cord syndrome should be remembered in the differential diagnosis list in the presence of back and leg pains, neurological deficits or urological complaints.

AIm:The objective of this study is to examine the effects of radiation of mobile phones on developing neural tissue of chick embryos. mAterIAl and methOds: There were 4 study groups. All Groups were placed in equal distance, from the mobile phones. Serial sections were taken from each Group to study the neural tube segments. results:The TUNEL results were statistically significant (p<0.001) at 30 and 48 hours in the third Group. We found low Bcl-2 levels partly in Group 4 and increased activity in Group 3. Caspase-3 was negative in the 48 and 72 hours in the Control Group, had moderate activity in the third Group 3, weak activity in the 48 hour, and was negative in the 72 hour in other groups. Caspase-9 immunoreactivity was weak in Group 1, 2 and 3 at 30 hours and was negative in Group 1 and 4 at 48 and 72 hours. Caspase-9 activity in the third Group was weak in all three stages.COnClusIOn: Electromagnetic radiation emitted by mobile phones caused developmental delay in chick embryos in early period. This finding suggests that the use of mobile phones by pregnant women may pose risks.

Report of an unusual upper cervical spine injury: Traumatic atlantoaxial rotatory subluxation with vertical odontoid fracture in a childSir, A 14-year-old male was admitted to the emergency department after a fall from 15 meter height. Neurological examination was normal. He had a linear vertex injury with torticollis. Cervical X-rays [ Figure 1] and cranial computed tomography (CT) were normal. Axial upper cervical CT demonstrated suspicion of type I atlantoaxial rotatory subluxation (AARS) with fracture line in odontoid process [ Figure 2]. Coronal reconstruction CT clearly demonstrated vertical odontoid fracture [ Figure 3]. Three dimensional CT (3D CT) scan directly define the relation of the atlantoaxial joint and vertical odontoid fracture [ Figure 4]. In order to decide the treatment option, cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was taken. There were no hyperintensities in the alar ligaments and C1-2 articular capsules in T2-weighted and short TI-inversion recovery (STIR) MRI. On the basis of these findings we opted for conservative treatment with rigid cervical collar and in one month he had improvement of torticollis.Pediatric upper cervical spine injuries are rare and constitute between 0.6% and 9.5% of all cervical spine injuries. [1,2] The pathophysiology of AARS is still unclear. It is believed that muscle contracture following upper respiratory tract infection might be a factor for AARS. [3] Sinigaglia et al. suggested that disruption Figure 1: (a) Open mouth X-ray did not determined dens clearly because of superposition of skull base on upper cervical spine. (b-d) shows lateral neutral and functional X-rays, which were normal, and there was no findings of pathology d c b a Figure 2: (a) Axial upper cervical CT determined suspicious fracture line in odontoid process (white arrow) with (b) Type I AARS (black arrow) b a Figure 3: (a) While sagittal reconstruction of cervical CT was normal (b) Coronal reconstruction demonstrated vertical odontoid fracture clearly (black arrow) b a