While reviewing this series of spinal cord tumors a few years ago with Dr. Elsberg, we were surprised to find that bladder and rectal disturbances were relatively late in their appearance; not infrequently occurring only a few days or weeks before operation. In this study an effort is made to determine if bladder or rectal disturbances are more common in any one group of spinal cord tumors, such as intramedullary, extramedullary or extradural tumors, etc., and if in any of these groups the time occurrence of bladder or rectal disturbances differs.
Chart 1 shows the relative frequency of bladder and rectal disturbances in the various groups of spinal cord tumors. It will be seen that bladder and rectal disturbances occur in 41 per cent, of the cases in intramedullary tumors, 78 per cent, in extradural, 80 per cent. in extramedullary and 83 per cent, in tumors of the conus and