title: Treatment of selected syringomyelias with syringo-pleural shunt: the experience with a consecutive 26 cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is well established that syringomyelia can cause neurological symptoms and deficit by accumulation of fluid within syrinx cavities that lead to internal compression within the spinal cord. When other intervention treating the underlying etiology failed to yield any improvement, the next option would be a procedure to divert the fluid from the syrinx cavity, such as syringo-subarachnoid, syringo-peritoneal or syringo-pleural shunting. The indications and long term efficacy of these direct shunting procedures are still questionable and controversial.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the clinical indication, outcome and complication of syringe-pleural shunt (SPS) as an alternative for treatment of syringomyelia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reported a retrospective 26 cases of syringomyelia were found to have indication for a diversion procedure. SPS was offered. Patients' symptoms, mJOA score, and MRI were collected to evaluate the change of the syringomyelia and prognosis of the patients. 2-tailed wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to perform the statistical analysis of the mJOA scores.
  
  
  METHODS
  All 26 patients underwent SPS. The clinical information was collected, the mean follow-up time was 27.4 months, 2-tailed wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to perform the statistical analysis of the mJOA scores. The key surgical technique, outcome and complications of SPS were reported in detail.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No mortality and severe complications occurred. Postoperative MRIs revealed near-complete resolution of syrinx in 14 patients, significant shrinkage of syrinx in 10 patients, no obvious reduction or unchanged in remaining 2 patient. Postoperatively, the symptoms improved in 24 cases (92.3%). Statistical analysis of the mJOA scores showed a statistical significance (P<0.001) between the preoperative group and the 2-week postoperative group. No further significant improvement between 2 weeks to the final follow up at 27 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Collapse or remarkable shrinkage of the syrinx by SPS could ameliorate or at least stabilize the symptoms for the patient. We recommend small laminectomy and a less than 3mm myelotomy either at PML or DREZ. The SPS procedure can be an effective and relatively long-lived treatment for the idiopathic syringomyelia and those that failed other options.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: fan971@126.com.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: XinGang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: HaiJun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: YinQian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: QiFei
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gai
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, University of Washington, WA, United States.
authors.forename: Fangyi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007796:Laminectomy / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000601:surgery*; D013346:Subarachnoid Space / Q000601:surgery*; D013595:Syringomyelia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: CSF homeostasis; Cerebrospinal fluid homeostasis; Myelotomy; Syringomyelia; Syringopleural shunting