• If you're a past member of the board, but can't recall your password any more, you don't need to set up a new account (unless you wish to). As long as you recall your old login name, you can log in with that user name then select 'forgot password' and the board will email you at your registration email, to let you reset your password.

Interesting reading

Kate H

Well-known member
One of the effects of CM is to squeeze the cerebellum - the base of the brain. This is compounded by dilated ventricles, which further push the cerebellum into the top of the spinal cord (herniation), where it acts as a kind of cork. I was reading the Guardian Saturday Review yesterday and there was an article about a man who had a massive stroke followed by internal bleeding in the brain, which severely damaged his cerebellum. The article said 'The cerebellum controls many of the muscles used in fine-motor coordination, in legs, arms, fingers and faces'. When thinking of CM/SM we tend to focus on the damage that herniation does to the spinal cord and the ventricles, but presumably herniation can also damage the cerebellum itself and impair its functioning - which is perhaps why CM itself can produce symptoms such as lack of balance, problems walking, facial damage, etc? (Incidentally, the reason for the article was that the man developed a passion and talent for painting and is now a well-known artist - the brain is truly amazing!)

Another interesting piece of reading came with the newsletter of the British Syringomyelia-Chiari Society - a booklet called 'Jessica's journey, One family's experience of Chiari Malformation in a child', which is a diary by her mother of 7-year-old Jessica's diagnosis of CM/SM and decompression surgery. The ups and downs would be familiar to many people on this forum - Jessica was able to articulate her pain, but undoubtedly many of our dogs have just as much pain but we can only pick up the signs we can learn to see. One of the interesting bits in the diary is that in dogs surgery is usually considered to stop the further development of a syrinx but not to undo the damage already done; 6 months after Jessica's surgery, 'the syrinx had already started to collapse and ... would continue to shrink'. Does the same thing in fact happen after surgery in dogs?

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
Kate said:One of the interesting bits in the diary is that in dogs surgery is usually considered to stop the further development of a syrinx but not to undo the damage already done; 6 months after Jessica's surgery, 'the syrinx had already started to collapse and ... would continue to shrink'. Does the same thing in fact happen after surgery in dogs?How would one find the answer on this?
 
Back
Top