A 6-month-old girl had already survived a severe bout of pneumonia at 3 months old. The chest infections kept returning, and at 5.9 kilograms, about 13 pounds, she was underweight for her age.
An ultrasound of her chest revealed something unexpected: two large fluid-filled masses, one on each side of her spine. A CT scan first raised suspicion of rare cysts made of gut-type tissue. They turned out to be pouches of the membranes that surround the spinal cord, filled with spinal fluid and bulging into her chest.
