Primary or acquired/secondary chiari

[VMZ14]

Does anyone know if their chiari is primary or acquired secondary chiari. I can't find much info On acquired or secondary.

[selmaS]

  The  brain  sag, is  cerebral  herniation....which many  Drs  refer  to  as  low   lying tonsils or  acquired  Chiari....as  I  stated  Chiari  was not  mentioned,....

  His  symptoms  and  surgery  all  the  same  we  do  have   for  Chiari.....

[Ball123]

Selma, I think mr Clooney suffered from a spinal csf leak which caused typical brain sag, not to be confused with chiari even though they can sometimes be mistaken for one another..

[selmaS]

   We   are all different so   it  can take  yrs  b4  it  may  show  on  a  MRI....not  usually  right  away....and  if it  was  due to  trauma,  make  sure  they  check  for a syrinx  as  well  as  they  can  be slow  to  form  and  then  just  rapidly  increase  in  size....never know if that may happen   so  if  you  have  a  syrinx, it  should be  monitored.

[VMZ14]

I see so I am wondering if mine is acquired. They described it as "low lying compatible with chiari 1 malformation" but I wonder how long after trauma this is seen.

[selmaS]

    Hi,,,,mine is congenital....primary..acquired  can  occur and in most instances is reported as low lying  tonsils not  Chiari....Acquired  Chiari does  not have  the malformation of the skull and  the  herniation occurs due to  blunt force   trauma  to  the  head/neck area.....

  However, some  Drs  refer to  a herniated  cerebral tonsil as  low lying  if it does not meet  criteria for Chiari....min  of  5mm  herniation...so, you  can  not go by  that but you can  ask  if  your  lower part  of your  skull is smaller,....and  your  Dr  should  also be  able  to  tell  which it is.....

George  Clooney  by  all indications  had  acquired  Chiari...had surgery....they  do not even mention Chiari  in  any  reports  or articles on  his condition.