Diastematomyelia and late onset presentation: a case report of a 72-year-old woman.

BACKGROUND: We would like to present the case of a 72-year-old woman, in whom diastematomyelia was surprisingly discovered when looking for an explanation for her neurological and urological complaints. Diastematomyelia is a rare disease in the group of "spinal dysraphisms," mostly discovered at birth and very rare at advanced age. The clinical pattern could be seen in the general presentation of 'tethered cord' and there are 2 types of presentation with a different treatment.

CASE REPORT: In our case report the two dominant complaints were pain in the right foot and sphincter problems. Further investigations ultimately revealed diastematomyelia. Surgical resection of the septum was one of the possibilities, but because of the limited clinical impact, a conservative treatment was followed.

CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: In conclusion this case shows that even at advanced age diastematomyelia can be first discovered, so attention to this rare disease stays important.