• Haruo Kanno, Toshimi Aizawa, Hiroshi Ozawa, Takeshi Hoshikawa, Eiji Itoi, and Shoichi Kokubun.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Nishitaga National Hospital, Sendai, Japan. kanno-h@isis.ocn.ne.jp
• J Neurosurg Spine. 2008 Jul 1; 9 (1): 62-6.

AbstractThe authors report a rare case of tethered cord syndrome with low-placed conus medullaris complicated by a vertebral fracture that was successfully treated by a spine-shortening vertebral osteotomy. The patient was a 57-year-old woman whose neurological condition worsened after a T-12 vertebral fracture because a fracture fragment and the associated local kyphotic deformity directly compressed the tethered spinal cord. An osteotomy of the T-12 vertebra was performed in order to correct the kyphosis, remove the fracture fragment, and reduce the tension on the spinal cord. Postoperative radiographs showed the spine to be shortened by 22 mm, and the kyphosis between T-11 and L-1 improved from 23 degrees to 0 degrees . Two years after the surgery, the patient's neurological symptoms were resolved. The bone union was complete with no loss of correction.

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