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The cauda equina (from Latin tail of horse) is a bundle of spinal nerves and spinal nerve rootlets, consisting of the second through fifth lumbar nerve pairs, the first through fifth sacral nerve pairs, and the coccygeal nerve, all of which arise from the lumbar enlargement and the conus medullaris of the spinal cord.
Cauda equina syndrome (CES) is a condition that occurs when the bundle of nerves below the end of the spinal cord known as the cauda equina is damaged. [2] Signs and symptoms include low back pain , pain that radiates down the leg , numbness around the anus, and loss of bowel or bladder control. [ 1 ]
The lumbar cistern is part of the subarachnoid space.It is the space within the thecal sac which extends from below the end of the spinal cord (the conus medularis), typically at the level of the first to second lumbar vertebrae down to tapering of the dura at the level of the second sacral vertebra.
The cauda equina ("horse's tail") is a collection of nerves inferior to the conus medullaris that continue to travel through the vertebral column to the coccyx. The cauda equina forms because the spinal cord stops growing in length at about age four, even though the vertebral column continues to lengthen until adulthood.
Conus medullaris syndrome is a collection of signs and symptoms associated with injury to the conus medullaris. [4] It typically causes back pain and bowel and bladder dysfunction, spastic or flaccid weakness depending on the level of the lesion, and bilateral sensory loss.
The filum terminale is situated centrally [2] amid the spinal nerve roots of the cauda equina [3] [2] (but is not itself a part of the cauda equina [2]).. The inferior-most spinal nerve, the coccygeal nerve, leaves the spinal cord at the level of the conus medullaris via respective vertebrae through their intervertebral foramina, superior to the filum terminale.
This method creates a problem when naming the spinal nerve root between C7 and T1 (so it is called spinal nerve root C8). In the lumbar and sacral region, the spinal nerve roots travel within the dural sac and they travel below the level of L2 as the cauda equina.
The roots of these nerves begin inside the vertebral column at the level of the L1 vertebra, where the cauda equina begins, and then descend into the sacrum. [4] [5] There are five paired sacral nerves, half of them arising through the sacrum on the left side and the other half on the right side.