2mm cerebellar tonsilar ectopia

[jessicamora510]

Hello all,

My mom had a cervical spine MRI last month and last October that both showed a 2mm herniation. i know that doesn't fit the quote on quote chiari mold, but also know size of herniation does not matter. with that being said my mom also has many symptoms such as: balance issues, abnormal gait, eye nystagmus, weak motor skills, severe occipital headaches, neck pain, and shoulder pains, as well as leg stiffness. she has never done a cine MRI so we dont know about her blockages if any. My question is, what is the likelihood any surgeon will not just dismiss us or try to once again misdiagnose her issues as something else because as they say "a 2mm herniation couldn't possibly be causing all of these problems."

Thank you,
Jessica

[selmaS]

Hi and welcome to the Chiari forum.

Your mom is lucky to have a daughter that will advocate for her....not many family members do that for each other so on your mom's behalf, thank you.

To help aid in getting a Dr to look at her for Chiari, ALL other conditions related or not should be ruled out. AND have a specialist review her MRI to see if 1- it was measured correctly, and 2- if the right angles to measure were done.

Depending on the angle or slice they do Chiari can look smaller or larger...many times we have someone that said how did it grow that much or how did  it shrink, when it was the slices were different for each MRI< so you need to know if it was done to look for Chiari or something else and was just noticed. Many Drs that are not specialists in the Chiari field tend to down play Chiari regardless of the length of herniation.....symptoms and overall health should be what they look at and use to determine if the Chiari is something that needs a closer look