Friends and loved ones, guests and searchers,
Here is a really good video, it lasts about 28 minutes. It comes from North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY, where I went for my tethered cord surgery and invasive cervical traction, and where I will be returning for my craniocervical fusion.
In an interview-style, Dr. Thomas Milhorat explains Arnold Chiari Malformation, and also mentions "acquired chiari," which is what I have. Dr. Milhorat was my neurosurgeon, along with Dr. Bolognese, when I had my spinal cord surgery last November (2007). Also, Dr. Milhorat was the one to discover that when I broke my C1 in 2004, the injury also included "atlanto occipital dislocation" (the skull came loose from the spine). He also said that I have "a chiari but not Chiari." Meaning my tonsillar herniation is not due to anything congenital but to the trauma.
I think an awful lot of this man!
Dr. B, another one of my heroes, is also shown in this video explaining how the surgeons at The Chiari Institute use color doppler during surgery to measure and keep track of cerebral spinal fluid flow. This also allows them to know what the CSF flow is like pre op, and then post op.
I hope you will be interested enough to watch this. You will also see Dr. M make a brief mention that many people diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia actually have Chiari Malformation.
http://www.nslij.com/workfiles/video/medicalupdate/mu17.html
[note, I will admit to one thing Dr. M says in this video with which I'm not in agreement. He states, in answer to the interviewer's query, that once the chiari surgery is done, symptoms are resolved. Sadly, I have not found this to be true in my readings of posts by Chiari sufferers, or from people I know personally. Perhaps Dr. M was making a quick answer or perhaps he was referring to pediatric patients, or maybe I misunderstood him.]
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