Update: Posterior Fossa Decompression With or Without Duraplasty for Chiari & Syringomyelia

2018 Bobby Jones CSF Think Tank: Genetic Advancements and New Research in Chiari Malformation, Syringomyelia & Related Disorders

LOEWS HOTEL NEW ORLEANS - NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 28, 2018

Dr. David Limbrick, pediatric neurosurgeon at St. Louis Children's Hospital, provides another update on the $2.8 million PCORI-funded randomized trial to compare the two most common surgical methods in kids who have Chiari with syringomyelia. He does a great job describing how the trial works and how this multi-institutional research study is going so far.

The purpose of this trial is to determine if the usual surgery for Chiari (posterior fossa decompression) is more, less or just as effective with or without what neurosurgeons call "duraplasty", which involves opening the little film covering the brain called the "dura". There are pros and cons to opening or not opening the dura and, right now, there is no real evidence proving which (if either) approach is better. The randomized trial is designed to find this evidence. (2018)

Revised: 9/2019