Chiari Malformation Surgery Death Rate. Broadly speaking there are two different surgical approaches used to treat chiari malformations. Overall 14 3 demonstrated a neurological deterioration within 5 years and 15 4 within 10 years.
Chiari type iv. In chiari malformation surgery doctors remove a small section of bone at the back of your skull to make room for part of your brain cerebellum and relieve pressure on your brainstem cerebellum and spinal cord. However patients may continue to have residual symptoms from syringomyelia.
The outlook depends on the specific malformations present in each individual.
This type of chiari malformation has a higher mortality rate and may also cause neurological problems. In the 1890s a german pathologist professor hans chiari first described abnormalities of the brain at the junction of the skull with the spine. Chiari type iv. Chiari type iii malformation patients have a very high mortality rate and patients often die in infancy due to respiratory failure.