Derivación siringopleural: resultados postoperatorios en el control de la siringomielia

objective: to describe and analyze the results obtained with the syringopleural shunting (sps). material and method: we retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 6 women (mean age: 40 years) with syringomyelia and a sps performed between the years 2000-2009. the etiology was: chiari i in 4 cases, chiari ii in 1 case and idiopathic in 1 case. sps was indicated when the symptoms and the cavity persisted after a craneo-spinal decompression. after hemilaminectomy, sps was performed between the cord cavity and the pleural space at the posterior axilary line. clinical outcome was evaluated with the odom scale and the variations in the size of the syringomyelic cavity with de vaquero index (vi). results: after a mean follow-up of almost 16 months the clinical outcome of sps was good in 3 cases, fair in 2 cases and poor in 1 case. the differences between pre and postoperative vi showed a mean reduction of 57.5%. complications were: orthostatic headache in 1 case (disappeared in 3 weeks) and a paraumbilical hypoesthesia in 1 case. conclusion: sps was a simple technique with a partial clinical outcome in 83% of the cases and a mean reduction in the syringomyelic cavity of almost 58%.