[The congenital cervical dermal sinus. A clinical case report and review of the literature].

Congenital dermal sinus represents a dysraphic state of the central nervous system. It can show up throughout a defect of the midline, of both the skull and the spine. Usually, the malformation presents a fistulous tract, connecting the skin with the underlying tissues (hypoderm, paraspinal muscles, vertebrae and, in some cases, also the dura mater and spinal cord). The incidence of the malformation is quite low, 1:2,500 births; the cervical and dorsal locations represent the less common region. The malformation can remain undetected at the clinical examination because of the scarce cutaneous stigmata. Usually, it is revealed by repeated episodes of meningeal infection, due to the free communication between the inner dural space and the nervous structure and the external space, allowed by the open cutaneous tract. The case of a cervical dermal sinus tract, observed and successfully treated in a 10-months-old female child prompted us to this study and to review of the cases reported in the literature.