Level of termination of the spinal cord during normal and abnormal fetal development.

The level of termination of the spinal cord in 115 autopsies on subjects ranging from a 20-week stillborn to an 8-month-old infant is reported. The study showed that the adult level (lower border L1) is attained at birth. In a clinical study of 10 children with diastematomyelia between the ages of 3 years and 7 years the spinal cord, which was found to terminate in the region of the lower lumbar spine, was tethered by a short thickened filum terminale.