Chiari type I anomalies in children and adolescents: minimally invasive management in a series of 53 cases

Abstract

The authors studied the role of the sole posterior fossa bony decompression in the management of symptomatic children affected by Chiari type I anomalies. The series in the pediatric literature of this subject were reviewed and compared with that presented in this article. From May 1994 to December 1998, 53 patients (3 months to 26 years) were observed. They were divided into: asymptomatic patients (27), who received no surgical treatment and were only subject to clinical observation; symptomatic patients (brain stem compression 16, syringomyelia 10, including 7 with holocord). All the symptomatic patients were treated with the same surgical approach: bony decompression of posterior fossa with removal of the posterior arch of C-1 and the outer layer of the dura without dural opening. In all 16 (100%) of the 16 patients with brain stem compression the symptoms resolved or improved; in patients with syringomyelia the symptoms were resolved or improved in 94.4% of cases. Two children required further surgery after 13 and 24 months, respectively. This series seems to demonstrate that even a simple extradural surgical approach, with a lower rate of postoperative complications and short stay in hospital, is sufficient to arrest the disease and to improve the symptomatology in a high percentage of cases (97.2%), which is comparable to that achieved with other, more aggressive, procedures.