Clinical Signs and Activity Limitations Associated With Dural Ectasia in Patients With Marfan Disease

Marfan's disease is a rare condition. Clinical phenotypes are heterogeneous. Among the abnormalities of the spine, dural ectasia is common with a prevalence of 66%. This is a major sign of Ghent's diagnostic criteria. To our knowledge, the clinical and functional signs associated with dural sac ectasia have never been described with precision. Only a few uncontrolled case series have been published. This is the case of the study by Foran and colleagues published in the American Journal of Genetics in 2005 which included 22 patients with Marfan disease with dural ectasia questioned about their symptoms and quality of life. We hypothesize the existence of a clinical and functional spinal phenotype specific to dural ectasia in patients with Marfan disease.