Surgery can cure Chiari malformation

Priya, a software engineer with a multi-national corporation, missed two promotions because she took long health breaks due to constant headaches and back pain.

Priya, a software engineer with a multi-national corporation, missed two promotions because she took long health breaks due to constant headaches and back pain.

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She also suffered from weakness, dizziness and weak eyesight.

The 29-year-old Thane resident went from one specialist to another, underwent a series of investigations but nobody could detect her problem.

Seven years later, finally an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) test revealed that she was suffering from Chiari malformation, which occurs due to blockage of flow of cerebrospinal fluid that protects the brain and spinal cord. Lack of this fluid leads to headaches, body aches, weakness, dizziness and poor eyesight.

“During the seven years when my condition remained undiagnosed, various doctors had put me on pain killers and other strong drugs which had side effects,” said Priya, who finally underwent a surgery in October.

The surgery called Craniotomy removes a lesion (an abnormal tissue) in the brain by making an opening in the skull. This reduces pressure over vital areas of brain.

Dr Vinod Rambal, a neurosurgeon at Dr. L.H. Hiranandani Hospital, Powai, operated on Priya. He said that though Priya’s condition was congenital it could have been detected only after she became an adult. “Persons with short or web neck, low hairline and low set of ears are likely to suffer from the condition once they grow up. However, an operation can cure it. The only difficult part is the diagnosis,” said Rambal.

At KEM Hospital, Parel, the neurology department sees at least one patient with the condition every month, most of them are in 20s or 30s.

“Such patients are diagnosed late as symptoms of the disease are subtle,” said Dr Atul Goel, head of KEM hospital’s neurosurgery department. Goel claimed that KEM has so far operated up on over 2,000 such patients since 1988, the highest in the world.

Dr Sangeeta Ravat, who heads the neurology department of KEM said to diagnose the condition they always check for accompanying symptoms like swallowing problems, change in speech and sensory loss.