Clinical and radiological outcomes of arachnoid-preseving suboccipital decompression for adult chiari I malformation with and without syringomyelia

Abstract

Objective: To share our experience related to clinic and radiologic outcomes of patients with Chiari I malformation. Patients and Methods: This retrospective study evaluated surgical outcome of 48 patients who underwent posterior fossa decompression and duraplasty with arachnoid-preservation technique February 2010 and February 2019. Clinic and radiologic outcomes at long-term follow-up were provided. Results: Surgery led to satisfactory outcomes in both clinic and radiologic measures. The majority of patients (66.7%) in the follow-up period informed us that their symptoms significantly improved. In 14 patients (29.2%), the symptoms were gone totally and no complaining was reported to us. Syringomyelia was encountered in 21 patients (43.7%) on pre-operative MRI. During long-term, significant improvement (syrinx segments were remarkably reduced in diameter) in syrinx size was noted in 16 of the 21 patients (76.1%). In 5 of the 21 patients (23.8), complete improvement, that is, syrinxes were totally collapsed, was seen. Surgery-related complications occurred in a total of 5 patients (10.4%). Conclusion. In our experience, we found decompressive craniectomy wide enough with duraplasty without arachnoid opening is safe and successful in patients with CIM. Complication rate is low and arachnoid preserving technique should be performed by experienced neurosurgeons.