Descriptions in the literature of the treatment of congenital convex pes valgus have been mainly concerned with patients who have not shown any overt paralytic lesion (Lloyd-Roberts and Spence 1958, Herndon and Heyman 1963, Eyre-Brook 1967, Harrold 1967). Convex pes valgus, or vertical talus deformity of the foot, quite often occurs in association with malformation of the central nervous system...

Spina bifida occulta is one form of spinal dysraphism, a term used to refer to imcomplete formation of the midline structure of the dorsum. It is therefore related to all the other forms of spina bifida which have been described under different names, spina bifida aperta or cystica. The basic differences between spina bifida cystica and spinal bifida occulta result from the nature of their orig...

lower limbs and other major organ malformations.4 Complex dysraphic states due to aberrant integration of the notochord include split cord malformation (SCM) or diastematomyelia: a congenital spinal anomaly in which there is longitudinal splitting of the spinal cord.5,6 Causes of NTDs are multifactorial and defects in several different genes can underlie the genetic basis of this disease.1 Howe...

Scoliosis may be a spinal manifestation of underlying disease, therefore, imaging plays a very important role in determining the underlying aetiology of so-called 'idiopathic' scoliosis. If underlying intraspinal defects go unrecognised and untreated, irreversible neurological deficit can develop. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the modality of choice for imaging the spinal canal, albeit co...