Abstract
Pathophysiology of syringomyelia has not been understood completely. The basic «piston» theory is that the downward movement of the cerebellar tonsils that occurs during the cardiac cycle acts like a «piston» on the partially closed spinal subarachnoid space and results in the formation of a syringomyelitic cavity. However, this still needs to be confirmed by additional experimental data. The main pathogenetic question is how the cerebrospinal fluid enters and remains in the syringomyelic cavity, where the pressure is higher than in the subarachnoid space. Based on the literature data on the pathogenesis of Chiari I malformation with syringomyelia, we modeled and presented our vision of the pathogenesis. Our assumption about the formation of syringomyelia in Chiari I malformation is that there may be a CSF channel between the fourth ventricle and the syrinx. This channel takes on the function of a one-way valve when slightly squeezed and with cyclic movements of the cerebellar tonsils. Decompression of the tonsils turns off the one-way valve, collapsing the syrinx. Perhaps this assumption will serve as a working hypothesis for further study of the pathophysiology of Chiari malformation type I and syringomyelia.
Publisher
PANORAMA Publishing House