Arachnoiditis/Blocked Fourth Ventrical

I am writing in regards of my wife.  She is 41 years old and has had multiple surgeries for Trigeminal Neuralgia/Gamma Knife, Partial laminictomy C-1/Duraplasty and decompression surgery for Chiari/Syringomelia, and two fusions for a fractured neck at C5-7.

She was recently told that she has a blocked 4th ventrical of her brain due to scar tissue and arachnoiditis.

She is experiencing extreme headaches, neccessitating emergency room visits and injections upon her overdooing, such as:  exertion/stress/weather changes/coughing/and of course disagreements with our kids.

Our neurosurgeon has advised us that the flow is blocked and when her pressure is raised, it is not emptying from her head area due to the blockage easily.  He stated that the increased pressures are causing these intense episodes, which also raise her blood pressure to the 150/112 range.

My question is, having her CSF pressure raised in this fashion, to such a high level to cause her excrutiating pain, could this, in fact cause a stroke, or even death from the pressure on her brain?  It has affected her walking/burning pain in hands and feet/horrible muscle spasms, nausea, fatigue, etc. besides the headaches.  Our neurosurgeon has advised that she may have to stop working, and she has to de-stress her life.  I would just like to get an honest opinion on her outlook so I can understand the seriousness to this. It is hard for an observer to understand the pain and life-changes that might have to made, when you can't see the problem. Her nsg did say that there is no options really available at this time, as the scar tissue would regenerate if removed, and might cause even more damage.

Thank you again for your time and consideration.  I really appreciate your frankness with all of us desperatly in need of hope and or counseling.

Yours thankfully,

Mark

[CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS]

Dear Mark:

Usually we think of arachnoiditis as congenital, but we see it in patients having multiple surgeries involving the archnoid area.  Unfortunately, when it is induced by surgeries, there is little that really helps.  What might be the only alternative is to place a shunt to help drain the fluid and reduce CSF pressure.  Having prolonged increased pressure can be harmful to a patient.  Headaches, urinary incontinence, dementia, blindness, ataxia, etc. can all result from increased ICP.  I would think that she will need some sort of shunt in the near future to relieve the pressure.

Sincerely,

CCF Neuro MD

[katbrat4]

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