Radiological determination of fossa cranii posterior morphometry in Chiari malformation type I

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the morphological changes in Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) of Chiari Malformation Type-1 (CMI) patients by performing morphometric measurements of fossa cranii posterior (FCP) and cranium. Materials and Methods: Our study is retrospective and included a control group of 32 (16 females, 16 males) and 12 patients (6 males, 6 females) with CMI between the ages of 21 and 47 years. Measurements were made on T2-weighted cranial MR images of the patient with CMI and the control group. Results: Maximum cranial length, maximum cranial height, sagittal diameter of foramen magnum, cranium base length, supraocciput, clivus length, anterior-posterior diameter of fossa cranii posterior, occipital cord length, cerebellum height, amount of herniation in CMI were found 164.13±10.67mm, 134.60±10.71mm, 36.89±5.28mm, 108.5±7.9mm, 38.5±3.7 mm, 36.7±7.1mm, 84.9±8.8mm, 79.7±11.5mm, 53.3±4.2mm, 7.8±4.9mm respectively. Conclusion: In our study, the measurements of the CMI and the control group were compared and a decrease in the length of the supraocciput, the length of the clivus and the length of the occipital cord has been found and an increase in the length of the cranial base and the sagittal diameter of the foramen magnum has been found in CMI patients. As a result of the data obtained in our study, FCP morphometry of patients with CMI can contribute to patient follow-up and surgery.

Keywords

• : fossa cranii posterior
• tonsiller herniasyon
• chiari malformasyonu
• : fossa cranii posterior
• tonsillary herniation
• chiari malformation