My 4 year old son has been diagnosed with a Chiari Malformation

December 28, 2002

Rats, I hope this isn't re-posted .. Ok,

I have a 4 year old son who has been having headaches. They seem to

be most often when he is tired and when he is just waking up. After

consulting with the family doctor for a month or so my wife was able

to get him in for a CT scan. This came back rather ambiguous, but the

tech thought there was evidence of some cerebral tonsils. The

pediatrition thought it enough to send him for an MRI. The result of

the MRI is that he has 7-8 mm tonsils and we are scheduled to meet

the neurosurgeon on Jan 8/2003.

Does there seem to be any indication that the length of the tonsils

makes for a higher need for surgical intervention? If so, does the

length of tonsil in a child make for a different diagnosis than in an

adult because of the smaller body size? In other words, what is

considered extreme in the case of a child compared to an adult?

What is the worst case scenario for my son if a) he has the surgery

or he doesn't have surgery?

What are the chances that he may be able to outgrow this?

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