sm study on how it developes ...abstract only (boohoo )

[Guest guest]

I found this very intresting , and thought imeadiatly of the newer shunt

placement stuff someone discussed recently where its removing csf from the

spinal arachnoid layer/level if i remember right , ....Is there a list of

questions being gathered for the asap confrence next month .? ...all of you

coming ...would you help me keep track of these abstracts to bring down ? in

so scattered , and frantic with school ....that i bet ill end up forgetting

em ! I'd sure like to read the full article . ..sarah in paradise

Neurosurgery 2001 Mar;48(3):636-45; discussion 645-6

A spinal thecal sac constriction model supports the theory that induced

pressure gradients in the cord cause edema and cyst formation.

phson A, Greitz D, Klason T, Olson L, Spenger C.

Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

anna.josephson@...

OBJECTIVE: Spinal cord cysts are a devastating condition that occur secondary

to obstructions of the spinal canal, which may be caused by congenital

malformations, trauma, spinal canal stenosis, tumors, meningitis, or

arachnoiditis. A hypothesis that could explain how spinal cord cysts form in

these situations has been presented recently. Therefore, a novel spinal

thecal sac constriction model was implemented to test various aspects of this

hypothesis. METHODS: Thecal sac constriction was achieved by subjecting rats

to an extradural silk ligature at the T8 spinal cord level. Rats with

complete spinal cord transection served as a second model for comparison. The

animals underwent high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and histological

analysis. RESULTS: Thecal sac constriction caused edema cranial and caudal to

the ligation within 3 weeks, and cysts developed after 8 to 13 weeks. In

contrast, cysts in rats with spinal cord transection were located

predominantly in the cranial spinal cord. Histological sections of spinal

cords confirmed the magnetic resonance imaging results. CONCLUSION: Magnetic

resonance imaging provided the specific advantage of enabling

characterization of events as they occurred repeatedly over time in the

spinal cords of individual living animals. The spinal thecal sac constriction

model proved useful for investigation of features of the cerebrospinal fluid

pulse pressure theory. Edema and cyst distributions were in accordance with

this theory. We conclude that induced intramedullary pressure gradients

originating from the cerebrospinal fluid pulse pressure may underlie cyst

formation in the vicinity of spinal canal obstructions and that cysts are

preceded by edema.

PMID: 11270555 [PubMed - in process]

------------------------------------------------------------------------