title: Spontaneous resolution of syringomyelia: report of two cases and review of the literature.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The natural history of syringomyelia is highly unpredictable, and some patients experience improvement or stabilization without surgery. However, the mechanisms of the formation and spontaneous resolution of syringomyelia remain controversial. This report concerns two patients with syringomyelia who demonstrated spontaneous reductions in syrinx size, accompanied by symptomatic improvement.
  
  
  METHODS
  One patient was a 10-year-old girl with syringomyelia associated with a tight cisterna magna and basilar impression, who demonstrated a spontaneous decrease in syrinx size, accompanied by symptomatic improvement, in 22 months. The other patient was a 39-year-old man with syringomyelia associated with a Chiari I malformation, who demonstrated a spontaneous reduction in syrinx size and neurological improvement, accompanied by elevation of the cerebellar tonsils, 6 months after diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The patients were monitored.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The mechanisms of spontaneous resolution of syringomyelia, as well as the factors leading to the cerebrospinal fluid flow disturbances that cause syringomyelia, may vary. Resolution of foramen magnum lesion-related syringomyelia may be the result of spontaneous correction of the abnormal cerebrospinal fluid flow, as observed in our cases, or of cavity fluid drainage into the spinal arachnoid space because of spinal cord fissuring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, Matsumoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kyoshima
authors.forename: Enver I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Bogdanov
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous; D013595:Syringomyelia / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology