title: Arnold-Chiari malformation with syringomyelia in an elderly woman.
abstract: METHODS
  A 76-year-old woman, complaining of leg pain and unsteady gait for 3 years, presented with a spastic paraparetic gait, severe spasticity and touch, thermal and pain sensory loss limited to arms, lower thorax and upper abdomen. Brain and spinal cord magnetic resonance imaging showed a large loculated syrinx. Cerebellar tonsillar herniation into the foramen magnum was also seen (Arnold-Chiari malformation, type I).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patient had successful cervico-spinal surgical decompression which resulted in marked reduction in hypertonia and weakness, normal gait and normal joint movement at 6 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This unusual, late clinical presentation of a congenital disease underlines the importance of a comprehensive diagnostic work-up in the elderly patients with complex neurological signs.
authors.affiliation: Alzheimer's Unit, IRCCS S. Giovanni di Dio, Sacro Cuore Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Geroldi
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Frisoni
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bianchetti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trabucchi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bricolo
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D001139:Arnold-Chiari Malformation / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013595:Syringomyelia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*