I only learned about tethered cord after chiari surgery. From reading about TC I have some signs. At 6 week check up I asked surgeon about it. He checked my MRI and examined a sacral dimple I never told anyone about except my dermatologist. Until recently I didn't know about TC or that the dimple could signal a problem. He says MRI does not show TC. At 6 weeks post-op I am doing well. Any thoughts on TC? Shouldn't everyone be checked before surgery?
I would like to ask while you raised the topic exactly what tethered cord is
Good question - I think it is when spinal cord is attached to something rather than hanging freely. Not too good a definition ....
A cord is tethered by a filament. I have heard MRI done face down are best for DX. My niece had 2 decompressions before finding out she has TC. Not sure if she had TC surgery yet, but it was scheduled. The dr at Duke seemed to think TC surgery could fix her symptoms that remained post 2x decompression. Definitely worth a second opinion.
Hi - before my son was diagnosed with Chiari, the doctor was actually looking for a tethered cord instead with an MRI. The MRI showed he did not have a tethered cord, but did have syringomyelia and chiari 1. So, according to our doctors, an MRI can show a tethered cord. Maybe circle back with your doctor? I believe another symptom of a tethered cord is scoliosis, which my son clearly had.
just curious does tc happen after the surgery and what is tc
My NS checked for tethered cord before he did the decompression because he said that surgery is easier to recover from and if the spinal cord is pulling down it could actually reverse the chiari and eliminate the need for decompression. I checked out ok though.
MRI CAN show a TC, but MRI can miss some TCs - these are considered “occult tethered cord”
Thanks for bringing up occult tethered cord. My daughter has bowel and bladder issues. MRI's have been done to check for tethered cords which didn't show anything. How is occult tethered cord diagnosed?
I believe that if the NS feels strongly enough that the TC is there- they will operate to locate it and correct it “site unseen”. I am not aware of another way to image a TC besides MRI.
My son has had the TC done three times. We are doing a MRI scan tomorrow to see if it needs done again because we are having problems. He also has had a Chiari malformation done two times and that was found on accident while being scanned for his TC to be repaired. If you feel that something is wrong then you should be checked for sure