Spinal cord segment lengths in children with meningomyelocoele and the “Cleland-Arnold Chiari” deformity

Fifteen normal and 20 children with meningomyelocoeles and hydrocephalus were studied using a radiological technique involving the insertion of pins to indicate the spinal cord segments. Measurements of the spinal segment length showed that in children with the Cleland-Arnold Chiari deformity there is a compression of the segments of the cervical spine maximum at the upper end and dissipated by the level of the 6th cervical segment. There is no evidence of any compression or expansion of the upper thoracic spine but elongation of 3rd–4th cord segments cephalad to the meningomyelocoele.