I have a question...
My son is 11 and was recently diagnosed with a syrinx. I contacted
ASAP and received literature that says you need to determine the
cause of the syrinx in order to determine treatment. But when I
asked the neurosurgeon, he said my son was just born with it. The
doctor said we would have to wait and see if the syrinx grows and
if it does he will need a shunt. Shunting is a high risk
procedure- are there any other options we can look into?
Dr. Iskandar Answers...
I agree that shunting is a high-risk procedure. However, once one
develops neurological deficits from a syrinx, these are rarely
reversible. That's why many pediatric neurosurgeons believe in
treating significant syrinxes early on. Furthermore, it is
imperative that we find a cause for the syrinx. A spinal cord
tumor should be ruled out for obvious reasons, and the presence of
a Chiari malformation would change the treatment options. In
conclusion, I think that the child should have a work-up to
identify the cause of the syrinx, and if the syrinx is large or
enlarging, then treatment options should be offered.
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