Because September is Chiari Awareness Month, we wish to draw attention to a diagnostic pitfall where intracranial hypotension (low intracranial cerebrospinal fluid volume/pressure) due to spinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak is concerned. When MRI of the brain is...
This is a common question. In the ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) recommendations, pneumococcal vaccination is recommended for patients with "CSF leaks", without distinguishing between cranial CSF leak with an anatomic barrier defect and...
Today, September 1, is Polycystic Kidney Awareness Day, #PKDAwarenessDay. Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) has been associated with spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) due to spinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks in a number of cases. More study is...
This very recent publication by Peter Kranz, MD and his colleagues at Duke University in Durham, NC provides new insight into the presence or absence of dural enhancement on brain MRI in patients with spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) secondary to...
We launched our online Support Community for those suffering with Spinal CSF Leaks in partnership with Inspire several months ago. Inspire is a trusted company that builds and manages many secure online support communities. We are pleased to announce that the CSF Leak...
This is a VERY important paper by Schievink and hs colleagues outlining a classification of various types of spontaneous spinal CSF leaks. This does not apply to iatrogenic or traumatic leaks. The classification was based on a large sample size of well over 500...
Rebound intracranial hypertension (high intracranial pressure) has been described after epidural patching and surgical procedures for intracranial hypotension (low intracranial pressure) resulting from spinal CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) leak. One of the treatments for...
CT-fluoroscopy-Guided Ventral CSF Leak Patching Shared with permission from Timothy Amhrein, MD and Duke University Medical Center Several centers in the USA and elsewhere that see larger numbers of patients with spinal CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) leaks are continually...
Spontaneous intracranial hypotension from spinal CSF leak is an important cause of headache, often quite disabling, that can be cured with treatment. The diagnosis, however, is not always as straightforward as one might imagine. Apart from low familiarity of an...
This 2016 paper from the open-access journal Tremor and Other Hyperkinetic Movements is a case report about a 68-year-old man who developed tremor and ataxia and did not have a positional headache. It was not until his MRI was done that the underlying cause of...
Many patients with intracranial hypotension from spinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks endure a limited ability to be functional while upright. Often much or most of the day is spent recumbent because that is often the only effective way to reduce the positional...
Heritable disorders of connective tissue (HDCT) have been identified more frequently in people with spinal CSF leak than in the general population.