scar tissue after chiari surgery

[woodsy46mom]

My daughter has scar tissue that is inhibiting the flow of CSF and is experiencing some of the same symptoms that she had before surgery.  She had a synthetic patch that disintegrated after just 1 week so they immediately put in a bovine patch.  I have read that both of these can cause scar tissue and the recommendation now is to use tissue from the patient's own body (autolgous pericranium) for the dural graft (patch).  
Has anyone had any experience with this?  Doctors, do you recommend another surgery to remove the bovine patch and use the autologous pericranium?  Will this also cause more scar tissue?  You know, more surgeries more scar tissue?   She does get some relief from massage but it is difficult finding the right person to do this properly.  She also had some relief from inversion therapy but we cannot afford both of these therapies continually.  Are these options better than surgery?
Any advice is appreciated.

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

From what I understand, u can develop scar tissue from ne of the patches and or scars....and it is not the patch itself, but the issue of it failing like ur DD experienced with it disintegrating....aside from that, other issues from the patches can be rejection due to undx'd conditions like Ehlers-Danlos....and that is a main reason the  pericanium may be used more frequently than the synthetic or the bovine or cadaver patches.

U r right the more surgeries the more scar tissue....may I ask, what did her chiari dr suggest?

We do not have drs that follow this board, so u will only get other chiarians or parents of chiarians that will respond.

I had the pericanium used for my patch and am only  going on 2 yrs post op, but to date no issues with scar tissue( knock on wood).

I would suggest u try getting ur own inversion table, they do make them for home use and could be less expensive than going for the treatments....something to look into...but do talk to a chiari dr to see what they would suggest as the best option.

"selma"

[beautymark64]

I am the mother of a wonderful 13 year old daughter who was born with achondroplasia. She had cervicomedullary decompression when she was 13 months old. Just 2 weeks ago, she needed another decompression because of scar tissue and fat from previous surgery. She was so bad that she was stopping breating at night around 108 times due to central apenea as a result of this scar tissue compressing this area. I found out last year that she indeed have arnold chiari malformation. We went for a gamma of symptoms and the MRIs did not show the magnitud of her problems. It was the sleep study that demonstrated the seriousness and when the doctor went in, he discovered that it was worse than expected. We were from Miami but relocated closer to Johns Hopkins where her surgery took place. Dr. Benjamin Carson did the surgery. He has been a blessing to my kid. Maybe some parents can benefit from his wonderful skills. He is one of the best neurosurgeons in the world. Take care all!