I had an MRI following my November 7, 2017 Syringomyelia surgery. I had a syringo peritoneal-shunt placed, this shunt will remain in my body forever. This is the procedure that helps divert fluid from one space to another. The name for the shunt is given by the doctor and it’s based on where they start and end. The decision to do this procedure depends on the person’s health situation and the surgeons preference. A syrinx is also most commonly known to be a side effect from another health condition, in my case, I have Syringomyelia because I have Chiari 1 Malformation. A way the doctor would know if a syrinx is present is by performing an MRI of the spine. When I was diagnosed In 2013 Life Began with Chiari + Syringomyelia an MRI of the entire spine was immediately ordered to look for syrinxes. My most recent MRI was done a couple of weeks ago and shows how my syringo peritoneal-shunt has been diverted successfully to the peritoneal space or my abdomen. It’s always good to continue to check on the shunt because it can fail after having had successfully worked. The failure of the shunt working may be due to various reasons one, the catheter becoming clogged and can no longer able to divert the fluid from one space to another. This failure in the shunt can be seen by MRI, the shunt will show being refilled with fluid or enlarged. However, one way of knowing a failure in the shunt is that you will notice the symptoms returning. My recovery from Syringomyelia surgery is expected to take about a year. I’m still feeling the numbness on my left side, weakness in my legs, numbness in my neck area and back which can only be described as cape like, among other things. The neuropathic pain I have is a type of pain that is difficult to treat as this is damage caused to the nervous system. However, it is found to be common in Syringomyelia patients. As far as knowing for sure the long-term outcome after surgery, for Chiari related Syringomyelia although surgery will reduce the syrinx, research has shown to stop it from growing 80% of the time. Surgery however still doesn’t always provide significant improvements in symptoms and many people will still experience pain and other symptoms after surgery.
MRI – On the right showing syrinx and on the left showing post surgical placement of shunt.
-Ana
Mom Life With Chiari 