A suggestion to the article “Whole spine MRI is not required in investigating uncomplicated paediatric lumbosacral lipoma: A retrospective single-institution review”: extended lumbosacral spine MRI

Syringomyelia in the Tethered Spinal Cords

“…A recent study suggested the inefficiency of performing a whole spine MRI scan (covering the thoracic and cervical regions with both sagittal and axial scans) for patients with spinal dysraphism in the lumbosacral area 10) . Then, a comment followed, mentioning the usefulness of 'extended' lumbosacral MRI (covering the thoracic and cervical regions only with sagittal scans, omitting axial scanning because it takes time due to the larger number of cuts) studies in evaluating the entire extent of the associated syringomyelia when present 9) . Considering the rather frequent, significant incidence of syringomyelia in more than 20% of patients, the addition of another MRI examination with or without sedation to determine the upper extent and severity of the syrinx in such patients may be more inefficient.…”