Acta Neurochir (2016) 158:341–347
Patients with Chiari malformation type 1 (CMI) often present with elevated pulsatile and static intracranial pressure (ICP). The preferred treatment of CMI, foramen magnum decompression (FMD), is assumed to normalise ICP and craniospinal pressure dissociation. In order to further explore the mechanisms behind FMD, the present study investigated whether or not pulsatile and static ICP normalises immediately after FMD.
Method The study included CMI patients undergoing FMD with perioperative ICP monitoring as a part of clinical management. The pulsatile and static ICP scores were retrieved from the department’s ICP database, and the clinical and radiological data from the patient records.
Results Eleven patients were included in the study. During the first 3 days following FMD, mixed model analysis revealed no significant time-dependent differences of preoperatively elevated either pulsatile (mean wave amplitude,MWA; p=0.85) and/or static (mean ICP, p = 0.90) ICP. Percentage of mean ICP >15 mmHg increased during days 2 and 3 after FMD. Two patients from the present series had to receive ventriculoperitoneal shunt after FMD in the early postoperative period.
Conclusions The present observations suggest that anatomical restoration of cerebrospinal fluid pathways by FMD does not lead to immediate normalisation of preoperatively altered pulsatile and static ICP in patients withCMI. This finding may explain persistent symptoms during the early period after FMD.
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