Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of occult spinal dysraphism in patients complaining about skin findings and those with skin signs determined during routine medical examination and to compare the results with the literature.
Material and Methods: Patients presenting to the Dr. Sami Ulus Obstetrics and Gynecology, Children Health and Disease Training and Research Hospital between July 2012 and July 2013 and found to have suspicious skin findings were evaluated retrospectively.
Results: We included 117 cases with suspicious skin findings in this study. The most frequent skin finding was a sacral dimple (87%) that was found in 102 cases. The other findings were hypertrichosis (6%) in 7 cases, coexistence of sacral dimple and hypertrichosis (4%) in 5 cases, sacral sinus (2%) in 2 cases and sacral mass (1%) in 1 case. Occult spinal dysraphism was found in 7% of all evaluated cases.conclusion: Skin signs have an important role in the early diagnosis of occult spinal dysraphism. Clinicians should therefore be careful during examinations and especially newborn examinations. Imaging methods must be used wisely for children when skin signs are found
Keywords: Skin, Occult spinal dysraphism
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