Treatment of subcerebellar tonsillar herniation and spinal cord cavitation

Spinal Cord Cavernous Disease (SCD) can cause severe discomfort to patients. For a long time, due to the lack of a unified understanding, there is no proven method for its treatment. Most people believe that spinal cord cavitation is caused by obstruction of cerebrospinal fluid circulation, which means that spinal cord cavitation is secondary in most cases, and that cavitation can usually improve on its own as long as its cause is removed. The most common cause of spinal cord cavitation is subcerebellar tonsillar herniation (chiari’s malformation), which compresses the spinal cord and medulla oblongata in the region of the occipital foramen magnum, resulting in obstruction of cerebrospinal fluid circulation. Therefore, after decompression of the occipital foramen magnum, release of the arachnoid adhesions, and restoration of effective circulation of cerebrospinal fluid, spinal cord cavitation can be relieved on its own within six months in most cases. In addition, spinal cord cavitation is also seen in patients with tethered spinal cord, in which case treatment requires untethering. In addition, many spinal cord tumors can be associated with spinal cord cavities, the most common being hemangioblastoma of the spinal cord, which resolves spontaneously after removal of the tumor. After trauma to the spinal cord, the cavity can be caused either by injury to the spinal cord itself or by fracture compression of the spinal cord. In conclusion, the key to treating spinal cord cavities is not the cavities themselves, but finding and relieving the primary disease is the key to treatment.