Tests, Procedues & Chiari – Oh, my! Abby’s headaches have been problematic for about a year now. It would make sense to assume that the headaches were probably caused by the tumor, right? Wrong! Dr. Gavin Dunn informed us that tumors in the brain stem usually do not cause headaches. He believes the most likely culprit is called Chiari (loosely pronounced Key-Are-Ree). What does that mean? Well, picture this: At the base of our skulls (just above the back of the neck) is a hole called a foramen magnum. This is the area where your spinal chord enters into the cranium and connects to the brain stem. You could imagine this area like a funnel: The wide part of the funnel is your brain, the base of the funnel is the foramen magnum, and the thin tube is your spinal chord. In a normal brain, if you were to pour Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF) down into the funnel, it would flow strait into the tube. For someone with Chiari, the base of the funnel is partially obstructed in a way (think pressure), causing the CSF to get backed up and cause a variety of symptoms, such as headaches. For many people with Chiari, this is because the tonsils in the cerebellum crowd the area, especially during exertion (laughing, sneezing, coughing, etc). This may be the case for Abby, but Dr. Gavin believes that this could also be a secondary symptom of the tumor. So, what now? Well, Dr. Dunn recommends Decompression Surgery. This is designed to ease the pressure placed on the foramen magnum area, which ideally relieves some of the Chiari symptoms (like headaches). In this procedure, a piece of skull (about the size of a deck of cards) is removed from the back of the head where the neck and base of the skull meet. During this procedure, Dr. Dunn would also like to get a biopsy of the tumor, and Abby is on board with this. She is in the process of getting set up for a more detailed MRI (for the biopsy), a CSF Flow Study (for the Chiari) and a meet-and-greet with the pre-op team at Barnes. Hopefully, we will have more information soon. In the meantime, please ask any questions you have and please keep Abby in your prayers. :)
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 20:26:41 +0000
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