Chiari Malformation

Chiari malformation

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Treatment

Your neurologists, along with your primary care physician, will design a treatment plan tailored to your child's medical condition, state of health and individual needs. Your child may need more than one kind of treatment, including surgery. You also may be referred to additional doctors or other medical professionals.

Infants with very severe malformations may have life-threatening complications. Some patients may have prolonged periods of relative stability. Untreated, however, the chronic crowding of the brainstem and spinal cord can lead to very serious consequences including paralysis. They can lead to the development of a cyst, called a syrinx, that expands and over time destroys the center of the spinal cord.

Chiari malformation often is treated with the following surgeries:

• Surgery to repair a myelomeningocele, or protruding sac of membrane.
• Implantation of a shunt, a small plastic tube that drains fluid from the brain when hydrocephalus develops or is part of the condition.
• "Chiari decompression" to enlarge the opening in the back of the skull. This can help relieve pressure within the skull.

Your medical team will explain any possible risks or complications from the treatments. Don't be afraid to ask your doctors, nurses or therapists about the treatment. If treatment includes medication, be sure that it's taken exactly as the doctor has instructed. Remember to keep all follow-up appointments with our doctors and other medical staff.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated August 15, 2007