PEDIATRICS Vol. 66 No. 1 July 1980, pp. 125-128
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Lumbosacral Lipoma with Acute Deterioration during Infancy

Joseph F. Pasternak MD1 and Joseph J. Volpe MD1

1 Washington University School of Medicine and St Louis Children's Hospital, St Louis

Recommendations concerning the timing of surgery for lumbosacral lipomas have been inconsistent. Proponents of delay of operation until 5 to 6 years of age in patients without neurologic deficits claim that the procedure is made technically easier by allowing growth and maturation of intraspinal structures.1,2 However, the frequency of eventual neurologic deficits in unoperated patients has led others to recommend prompt surgery, even in infancy.3,4 Because these deficits are usually insidious in onset, most clinicians are unaware that the patient with a lumbosacral lipoma can deteriorate acutely. We wish to report a patient with a lumbosacral lipoma who suffered two episodes of acute deterioration in early infancy, and is left with severe neurologic residua.