the birth of a baby with a tail can cause tremendous psychological disturbance to the parents .
isolated case reports of various types of human tails have been described in the literature .
the main features and imaging findings of six patients have been summarised in table 1 .
the plain radiographs showed spina bifida in three patients at l 5 and s 1 .
summary of main features and imaging findings of all patients other than patient number 5 ( lumbar lipomeningomyelocele ) , all other patients underwent surgical excision .
the parents of patient number 5 refused to give consent for the operation and the patient was lost to follow - up . on histopathological examination ,
the specimen of sacrococcygeal teratoma showed mature tissues that included bones , cartilage , fat and neural tissues , whereas other tails showed mature adipose tissue , blood vessels and nerves .
a  vestigial tail  describes a remnant of a structure found in embryonic life or in ancestral forms . during the 5 to 6 week of intrauterine life
it contains adipose tissue , connective tissue , central bundles of striated muscle , blood vessels and nerves and is covered by skin .
it can move and contract and occurs twice as often in males as in females .
none of our patients showed any movement of the tail . unlike the tail of other vertebrates , human tails do not contain vertebral structures .
the additional lesions found with pseudo tails are lipomas , teratomas , chondromegaly and gliomas , and there may be elongated parasitic fetus .
human tail usually occurs in the lumbosacral region , but it has also been reported in the cervical region .
teratoma in the human tail has also been reported . in a review series of 48 skin - covered lumbosacral masses
the preoperative assessment includes a complete clinical examination including neurology , plain radiographs of the spine and computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging .
an occult spinal lesion has been reported in around 50% of the cases . in another review by lu ,
tail in the midline of lumbar region tail in the left side of the buttock , away from the midline tail in the midline of lumbar region tail in the midline of lumbar region tail in the midline of lumbar region ( lipomyelomeningocele ) sacrococcygeal teratoma with tail , away from the midline
 human tail is a curiosity , a cosmetic stigma and presents as an appendage in the lumbosacral region . 
 six patients of tail in the lumbosacral region are presented here to discuss the spectrum of presentation of human tails . 
 the embryology , pathology and treatment of this entity are discussed along with a brief review of the literature . 
INTRODUCTION
CASE REPORT
DISCUSSION