dura patch:

[mig26]

Hi;
My Granddaughter has chiari malformation has had surgery twice now she
developed a dura patch leak. How often does this happen ?  She is only 7 yrs
old she has 2 surgeries for the chiari malformation. This last surgery they went
a little further had to have a dura patch now it's leaking. Could you lend a hand in
what to expect. Muskegon,MI
Please email me at ***@**** please pray for her and her parents.
Take care God Bless

[Lottida]

Awe my heart breaks for you precious granddaughter!!!!  I just had a dura patch repair 7 weeks ago because mine started leaking 5 weeks after my decompression surgery.  However, I had a sneezing attack that obviously popped the fibrin glue off of my patch.   If she does not have an autologous graft (which means her own tissue), it is possible that she is rejecting the patch.   My doctor tried doing a CT guided drainage of my CSF leak to see if it would help the leak to seal on its own, but it didn't work for me & we tried twice.  The good thing is when you look at the statistics, a CSF leak will seal itself more often than not but it takes time (also depends on the size of the leak).  Mine just got so big in the back of my head that we couldn't wait any longer because my skin began to pull on my ears!!!  I know its much different for children so I'm not really sure of her options.

Also have they checked her CSF pressure to make sure it isn't high??  ICP can cause leaks also!!!   Like Selma said she needs to be tested for all related conditions, because many things can cause leaks!!  Good luck & sending lots of prayers her way!!!!!

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

It is not uncommon for someone to require more then one surgery....however the reasons behind the extra surgeries is what you need to look at...

With Children...some Drs feel they should do a non evasive surgery with out opening the dura...they say this is to help avoid a leak....but this type tends to not have long lasting benefits and then a redo has to be done with adding of the opening of the dura....now the question is what type of patch was used...did they test her for ALL related conditions....and does she have a true Chiari specialist.....

I am sorry she iis going thru so much, but as I said this does happen from time to time...we are all different and respond to the surgery differently as well....

And I am sorry we can not e-mail a reply....so I hope you find this reply helpful