Aquired?

[shirl000]

If you have aquired chiari from a lumbar puncture leak is it possible, once the leak is fixed, for the chiari to stay and not go away even though the leak is repaired?  Thank you

[(Not so) Spunky]

You can't acquire Chiari.. You're born with it. Some people have no symptoms ever, some have horrible symptoms that surgery won't even take care of.. Unless you're talking about a syringomyelia/syrinx?

[shirl000]

Thanks for the reply. I read somewhere that if you have a lumbar puncture it can cause brain sagging....or aquired Chiari

[(Not so) Spunky]

I suppose you can acquire the same "condition", but not an actual Chiari because-  from what I'm told- It's the way your skull and brain are formed in utero.. But I'm sure it's possible to have "sagging" from other other conditions.. My inly concern with it would be a formation of a syrinx (cyst in spinal cord). Those can happen from certain traumas- not just with Chiari. It's rare, but not impossible!

[shirl000]

I wonder if you can get a syrinx from a lumbar puncture?

[(Not so) Spunky]

Not sure? I know you can get em from car accidents, sports injuries, stuff like that.. Go to ASAP.org. It's all about syrinxs!!

[shirl000]

Okay,  thanks! I'll check it out.

[LuvsaKnight]

Dr. Milhorat at the Chiari Institute has said that upon further study they have found that Chiari CAN be aquired due to trauma..etc.  
Think about it, if you get hit hard enough and have a major "shaking" of the brain, it could slip...not normally, not likely...but possible.

[Shane99]

But would that still be considered actually "Chiari"? I understand Chiari to be a congenital anomaly (a condition that is present at birth), in which parts of the brain protrude through the opening in the base of the skull into the spinal column.

[wheeliegirl]

I have Aquired Chiari( My Neurosurgeon actually called it that) so I know  that people aren't always born with it.I have IIH and had a Lumber Peritoneal Shunt fitted which then caused the chiari from (I assume) over-drainage. I have since had a VP shunt fitted but no decompression surgery .

[youngwife]

I think this is another one of those very "controversial" issues concerning Chiari.  I believe that tonsil herniation can be acquired, but a hypo-plastic posterior fossa can not be acquired....it is something that you are born with.

Each doctor is going to have his/her own opinion.  And, until more research is done, none of us can say with 100% certainty one way or another.  Even the Chiari experts are human, and so they could be wrong on an issue.....(probably not many issues, but one or two! LOL!)

So, concerning the OP, I think that a spinal tap might could cause tonsils to herniate further, but not "cause" Chiari (which is a hypo-plastic posterior fossa).

I don't believe that a spinal tap can cause a syrinx to form.  Syrinx can be missed on MRI's, and so it may have been there to begin with, but just missed.