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Original Article
 
Functional outcome of suboccipital craniectomy without dural opening for chiari malformation using a novel scoring system: A single centre experience
Joseph Merola1, Paul Leach2, Shafqat Bukhari2
1Clinical Observer, Department of Neurosurgery, Heath Hospital, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
2Neurosurgeon, Department of Neurosurgery, Heath Hospital, Cardiff, United Kingdom.

Article ID: 100001N07JM2015
doi:10.5348/N07-2015-1-OA-1

Address correspondence to:
Joseph Merola
Department of Neurosurgery
Waikato Hospital, Corner of Selwyn and Pembroke Street Hamilton 3204
New Zealand

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How to cite this article
Merola J, Leach P, Bukhari S. Functional outcome of suboccipital craniectomy without dural opening for chiari malformation using a novel scoring system: A single centre experience. Edorium J Neurosurg 2015;1:1–5.


Abstract
The surgical management of Chiari type I malformation remains controversial. We looked at functional outcome using a novel, Chiari-specific, outcome assessment tool of suboccipital craniectomy without dural opening in our cohort of patients. We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent the described operative technique between 2008–2012. Sixteen patients were included in our cohort and the majority of patients reported Valsalva headache as a primary symptom. Most patients reported overall improvement following surgery and 56% showed functional improvement according to the Chiari-speci?c assessment tool. All patients reported improvement or resolution of Valsalva headache following surgery and we believe suboccipital craniectomy alone should be considered for those with headache as the sole presenting symptom.

Keywords: Arnold-Chiari, Chiari malformation, Foramen magnum decompression, Posterior fossa decompression, Suboccipital decompression

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Author Contributions:
Joseph Merola – Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Final approval of the version to be published
Paul Leach – Substantial contributions to conception and design, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Shafqat Bukhari – Substantial contributions to conception and design, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Guarantor of submission
The corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of support
None
Conflict of interest
Authors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright
© 2015 Joseph Merola et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.