Bertolotti's syndrome in children: From low-back pain to surgery. A case report

Pediatric Back Pain Associated with Bertolotti Syndrome

“…Previous literature on Bertolotti syndrome in adolescents with back pain has reported clinical improvement with bony resection 4,6,8 . Our case report adds to these recommendations, demonstrating that pseudoarticulation resection can lead to good results in uncomplicated pediatric patients who failed conservative treatment.…”

“…Although the literature on treatment of Bertolotti syndrome in children is sparse, there is some adult literature recommending resection and/or fusion. Typically, the first step in management consists of infiltration of the pseudoarticulation with anesthetic and anti-inflammatory medications for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes 4 . If symptoms resolve on injection, the diagnosis of Bertolotti syndrome is confirmed 16,20 .…”

“…B ertolotti syndrome is an uncommon source of back pain in the pediatric population [4][5][6][7][8] . It is a congenital malformation generally presenting as an overgrown TP of caudal lumbar vertebrae fused with the sacrum or ilium, resulting in pseudarthrosis and pain 17 .…”

“…Because of this wide prevalence, Quinlan et al recommend providers consider Bertolotti syndrome in the differential for LBP, especially in younger patients 3 . However, to the best of our knowledge, only a few case reports of pediatric patients with Bertolotti syndrome have been described [4][5][6][7][8] .…”

“…Although there is substantial literature on management of Bertolotti syndrome in adults, to the best of our knowledge, there is no consensus on managing this condition in the pediatric population 16 . Previous case reports of pediatric Bertolotti syndrome have focused on either medical treatment through steroid/anesthetic injections or surgical treatment through resection of the overgrown mega-apophysis [4][5][6][7][8] .…”