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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Radiol Imaging 2016; 26(04): 493-501
DOI: 10.4103/0971-3026.195788
Pediatric

Neonatal and infantile spinal sonography: A useful investigation often underutilized

Nikhil Nair
Department of Radiodiagnosis, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
M Sreenivas
Department of Pediatric Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Arun K Gupta
Department of Pediatric Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Devasenathipathy Kandasamy
Department of Pediatric Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
,
Manisha Jana
Department of Pediatric Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

Sonography is an ideal, effective, noninvasive tool for evaluation of the spinal cord in neonatal and early infantile age groups owing to lack of ossification of the posterior elements of spine. Understanding normal anatomical appearances is a prerequisite for the interpretation of various pathologies of the spinal canal and its contents. This review elucidates normal appearances of the spinal cord in this age group, in both axial and sagittal planes. Usefulness of Doppler sonography is briefly discussed, and special emphasis is placed on normal anatomical variants that may mimic spinal abnormalities. Sonographic appearances of common intraspinal pathologies, both congenital and acquired, are exhaustively described. Key points regarding sonographic diagnosis of important spinal anomalies are emphasized and explained in detail. To conclude, spinal ultrasound is a reliable and widely available screening tool, albeit the usefulness of which is often underestimated.

Keywords

Myelomeningocele - spinal dysraphism - spinal sonography - split cord malformation


Publication History

Article published online:
30 July 2021

© 2016. Indian Radiological Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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