Limited dorsal myeloschisis (LDM) is caused by a primary neurulation defect resulting from incomplete disjunction of the cutaneous and neural ectoderm, and manifests as a fibroneural tethering stalk linking the skin lesion to the underlying spinal cord. We present a case of cervical LDM associated with a multi-lobular cystic lesion suspected during the prenatal ultrasonographic check-up. A diaphanous membranous cystic sac without neuronal components inside was extruded from the dorsal cervical vertebrae at the C6/7 portion. The preoperative diagnosis was confirmed by computed tomography (CT), and the lesion was successfully removed. The membranous sac with arachnoid tissue was extruded from the dural defect without direct connection with fibroneural tissue, suggesting incomplete LDM. We report the clinical characteristics of this rare entity along with a literature review.
Keywords: Limited dorsal myeloschisis; Neurulation; Spinal cord.
© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.