ORPHA:645188
Spinal dermal sinus
Also known as: Dermal sinus tract
Publications
348
75.2th percentile
Trials
0
Interventional, condition-specific
Researchers
916
Distinct authors in sample
Gene link
—
Readiness
1/6
Stages with a signal
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
A rare closed dysraphism with stalk characterized by a dorsal midline dermal sinus tract lined by keratinizing stratified squamous epithelium extending to the the intrathecal space. Other components such as hair follicles and shafts, mesenchymal derivatives (blood vessels and fibrous tissue) and occasionally nerve fibers can be observed. Inflamed granulation tissue containing mixed neutrophils, plasma cells, lymphocytes, and histiocytes is consistently found in the tract. It can also be associated with an intradural dermoid cyst. This is at risk to cause intrathecal infections (meningitis, empyema) that justify a prophylactic surgery.
Cross-references
Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.
Research stages
Trial readiness signals
Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”
1/6 stages with a signal
Research-stage checklist from open sources (GenCC, literature, Monarch when enriched, ClinicalTrials.gov). Not a prognosis or care recommendation.
- Gene identifiedNot found
No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build
- LiteraturePresent
348 matched papers (161 in last 10 years) Source
- Phenotype characterisedNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / HPO
- Animal modelNot checked
Not yet enriched from Monarch / Alliance
- Orphan designationNot checked
FDA/EMA orphan-drug designation not enriched yet
- Interventional trialNot found
No matched interventional trial under our ClinicalTrials.gov rules
Biology
Genes and phenotypes
Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.
Do we know what causes it?
Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.
No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.
Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)
Not enriched in this build — Monarch phenotype joins were not run for this record.
Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)
Not enriched in this build.
Literature
Is anyone studying this?
348
348 papers have ever been published on this condition (under this name). For scale, breast cancer has over 700,000. Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=5449) is 41.
348 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 41 (publications denominator n=5449).
161 in the last 10 years · high confidence · 75.2th percentile (publications denominator)
Phrase hits: 348 · MeSH hits: 0
Who's working on it?
916
Distinct author names in 200 sampled papers — named people below.
Who's working on it?
No interventional trial matched this name; these authors publish on it in the sampled literature — a practical starting point for contact.
- 01Pang D6 papers · 2024
Paediatric Neurosurgery, University of California, Davis, USA. PangTV@aol.com
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Alexiou GA4 papers · 2026
Department of Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital, Agia Sofia, Athens, Greece, alexiougrg@yahoo.gr.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Tubbs RS4 papers · 2026
Department of Neurosurgery, Tulane Center for Clinical Neurosciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
Papers in Europe PMC - 04Iwanaga J3 papers · 2026
Department of Neurosurgery, Tulane Center for Clinical Neurosciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA.
Papers in Europe PMC - 05Nejat F3 papers · 2012Papers in Europe PMC
- 06Prodromou N3 papers · 2014Papers in Europe PMC
- 07Sfakianos G3 papers · 2018
Department of Neurosurgery, Children's Hospital 'Aghia Sofia', Athens, Greece.
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Wong ST3 papers · 2023
Department of Neurosurgery, Tuen Mun Hospital, Hong Kong, China.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09Balani A2 papers · 2024
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
Papers in Europe PMC - 10Behari S2 papers · 2019
Department of Neurosurgery, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of medical Ssciences, Lucknow (UP), India.
Papers in Europe PMC
Clinical research
Is a treatment being tested?
0
interventional trials for this specific condition
No interventional trial testing a treatment matched this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov (observational studies and pan-disease registries are listed separately when present).
Data as of 27 July 2026
No matched interventional trials. This is true for 73% of diseases in the trials denominator (5114 of 7003). Here are the researchers publishing on it.
high confidence · 36.5th percentile (trials denominator)
Recruiting interventional trials
From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set
No interventional trial testing a treatment was found for this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov.
See who's working on it — people publishing on this disease are often the practical next contact when no trial is listed.
Where to find support
We do not yet link condition-specific patient organisations. These umbrella groups support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families:
India — NPRD
Last verified 2026-07-26This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.
Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.
How we counted this
Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.
"Spinal dermal sinus" OR "Dermal sinus tract"
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"Spinal dermal sinus" OR "Dermal sinus tract"
Study-type breakdown: 0 interventional · 0 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase; with hits: phrase
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
- No synonyms dropped by stoplist
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus
Ingested 2026-07-27T19:39:17.148Z