Development , validation , and incorporation of a small number of disease-specific patient-based instruments will improve the quality of research and care of CM-I patients
OBJECT Chiari malformation Type I ( CM-I ) is a common and often debilitating neurological disease .
Efforts to improve treatment of CM-I are impeded by inconsistent and limited methods of evaluating clinical outcomes .
Chiari 1 malformation with syringomyelia: correlation of phase-contrast cine MR imaging and outcome.
AIM This study was design ed to determine the hemodynamics of cerebrospinal fluid flow in syringomyelia patients associated with Chiari I malformation using phase-contrast velocity-encoded-cine MRI and also to find out whether treatment outcomes may be predicted by these flow measurements . MATERIAL AND METHODS Eighteen consecutive symptomatic patients with syringomyelia associated with Chiari 1 malformation were included . The PC VEC MRI was performed at the level of foramen magnum and syrinx cavity both preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively . Following surgery , the modified Asgari score was calculated , and the association between CSF flow pattern and clinical outcome was assessed . RESULTS Evaluation of clinical symptoms at postoperative 6th month revealed improvement in 11 ( 61 % ) patients and stabilization in 5 ( 28 % ) patients whereas results were poor in 2 ( 11 % ) patients . Preoperative cine MRI flow studies showed a heterogeneous pattern at the foramen magnum level in all of the patients . Postoperative cine MR flow studies demonstrated the change from heterogeneous pattern to sinusoidal pattern in 11 patients and a decrease in heterogeneity in 7 patients . CONCLUSION Our results indicate that CSF flow measurements using PC VEC MRI can give important information regarding the prognosis and follow-up of the patients with Chiari I malformation
Development , validation , and incorporation of a small number of disease-specific patient-based instruments will improve the quality of research and care of CM-I patients
OBJECT Chiari malformation Type I ( CM-I ) is a common and often debilitating neurological disease .
Efforts to improve treatment of CM-I are impeded by inconsistent and limited methods of evaluating clinical outcomes .