[The spine in Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis]

Abstract

The authors have studied the various spinal manifestations of Rechlinghausen's disease. They observed static disorders, such as progressive and non progressive kyphoscoliosis, tumours outside the spinal cord but within the vertebral column of neurinoma type or meningiomas and intraspinal glial tumours. Pseudo-tumoral dystrophic malformations, together with diffuse osteo-dystrophy the skeleton were also observedmthe most interesting and rarest manifestation, as there are to date only 23 published cases, is festooning or vertebral scalloping, which may be demonstrated by tomographic examination and completed by the use of contrast media, e.g. opaque myelography giving the pitted appearance and gas myelography showing the integrity of the spinal cord. The physiopatholoty of the latter form is not clearly established. This may be either of meningeal origin or bony origin, with a dystrophic character.