Noncontiguous Double Spinal Lipoma with Tethered Cord and Polydactyly: Two Different Embryological Events in One Patient

Lumbosacral lipoma is reported to occur in 4-8 of 100,000 patients. Sixty-six percent of lipomyelomeningocele in young patients have accompanied by hypertrophic filum terminale. It is rare to find two isolated spinal lipomas simultaneously. Embryological origin of dorsal and filar lipomas is different from each other and hence rarer to find them together. Radical resection is now being preferred for better long-term progression-free survival. We report an interesting case of spinal dysraphism in a 4-month-old female child with protruding, nontender, soft, subcutaneous 5 cm × 7 cm mass of the lumbosacral area that had been present since birth. Other anomalies included polydactyly of left hand. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated two isolated spinal lipomas, a transitional type and a terminal type filum lipoma with an interval of normal filum between the two. The findings were confirmed at surgery and detethering done along the white plane with neural placode reconstruction as described by Dachling Pang. The child had an uneventful postoperative recovery.