RE: spinal fluid leak

[Guest guest]

Hi . Was syrinx created after the leak? If so, they are going to

implement a shunt in the area.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT & T

spinal fluid leak

Has anyone had surgery for a spinal fluid leak? I am having surgery for this on

Dec 16th and would like to hear from anyone else that has been through this.

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

If it is a syrinx, it can also be corrected by widening the spinal canal.

The potential benefit to this method is that shunts are a foreign material

in the body, can get infected, can get clogged, etc. OTOH, the spinal canal

can only be widened so much. Sometimes, even after widening, there is still

not enough space for a free flow of CSF and the syrinx remains. Then a

shunt is the only option.

If it is not a syrinx, there are different options. Most start with strict

bed rest. I think the next least invasive (and pretty common) is a blood

patch. The most invasive (when the aforementioned don't work) is to go back

in and seal the dura (sometimes using graft material such as bovine

pericardium or gortex). With the graft material, some MDs swear that one or

the other reduces the risk of retether. IMO, neither is better at

preventing retether. If you're going to retether, you're going to. There

have been people on this list that have had gortex and others that have had

bovine pericardium (myself included in the latter group) and both have

retethered. In my case, apparently my body didn't like the bovine

pericardium graft and attacked it with scar tissue, causing not only a

severe retether, but also arachnoiditis (among others that probably lead to

its development). My neurosurgeon said that it was far worse than he ever

imagined based on the scan or my symptoms (only pain). He said it looked

like someone poured super glue in my back. But, there are others who have

had that graft material without a problem. Just another reason, I think if

you're going to retether, you're going to. Doesn't matter whether you lay

on your stomach for days post-op, rotate positions (back, left side,

stomach, right side, repeat) every 4 hours (what I did after my first

surgery), are up walking 24 hrs after surgery, have gortex graft material,

have the bovine pericardium graft material, etc. IMO, if you're body's

prone to making scar tissue, it just is (and external is not an indication

of internal). While I know many MDs swear about these methods decreasing

retethers, I've never read a peer-reviewed article about any study that

showed any correlation between these procedures and a decrease in the rate

of retether. But, like I said, these are just my beliefs.

I guess, we probably need to know what kind of leak you have and what kind

of surgery your MD is planing to do.

Jenn

> **

>

>

> Hi . Was syrinx created after the leak? If so, they are going to

> implement a shunt in the area.

>

>

> Sent via BlackBerry by AT & T

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Jenn,

My neuro says I have a rather large pseudomeningocele that appears to show a

nerve root thorugh a hole in the dura. He thinks this is the reason my pain and

numbness has increased so much.

To: tetheredspinalcord

From: jlbobin@...

Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2011 17:29:11 -0500

Subject: Re: spinal fluid leak

If it is a syrinx, it can also be corrected by widening the spinal canal.

The potential benefit to this method is that shunts are a foreign material

in the body, can get infected, can get clogged, etc. OTOH, the spinal canal

can only be widened so much. Sometimes, even after widening, there is still

not enough space for a free flow of CSF and the syrinx remains. Then a

shunt is the only option.

If it is not a syrinx, there are different options. Most start with strict

bed rest. I think the next least invasive (and pretty common) is a blood

patch. The most invasive (when the aforementioned don't work) is to go back

in and seal the dura (sometimes using graft material such as bovine

pericardium or gortex). With the graft material, some MDs swear that one or

the other reduces the risk of retether. IMO, neither is better at

preventing retether. If you're going to retether, you're going to. There

have been people on this list that have had gortex and others that have had

bovine pericardium (myself included in the latter group) and both have

retethered. In my case, apparently my body didn't like the bovine

pericardium graft and attacked it with scar tissue, causing not only a

severe retether, but also arachnoiditis (among others that probably lead to

its development). My neurosurgeon said that it was far worse than he ever

imagined based on the scan or my symptoms (only pain). He said it looked

like someone poured super glue in my back. But, there are others who have

had that graft material without a problem. Just another reason, I think if

you're going to retether, you're going to. Doesn't matter whether you lay

on your stomach for days post-op, rotate positions (back, left side,

stomach, right side, repeat) every 4 hours (what I did after my first

surgery), are up walking 24 hrs after surgery, have gortex graft material,

have the bovine pericardium graft material, etc. IMO, if you're body's

prone to making scar tissue, it just is (and external is not an indication

of internal). While I know many MDs swear about these methods decreasing

retethers, I've never read a peer-reviewed article about any study that

showed any correlation between these procedures and a decrease in the rate

of retether. But, like I said, these are just my beliefs.

I guess, we probably need to know what kind of leak you have and what kind

of surgery your MD is planing to do.

Jenn

> **

>

>

> Hi . Was syrinx created after the leak? If so, they are going to

> implement a shunt in the area.

>

>

> Sent via BlackBerry by AT & T

>