Novel surgical management of spinal adhesive arachnoiditis by arachnoid microdissection and ventriculo-subarachnoid shunting.

Spinal cord tethering and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow disturbance are two major features in the pathophysiology of spinal adhesive arachnoiditis. We hypothesized that insufficient CSF supply to the surgically untethered spinal cord may be one of the causes of the typical post-operative recurrent extensive lesion. We report a patient with extensive spinal adhesive arachnoiditis, who was successfully treated using a novel surgical technique consisting of two procedures. First, microdissection of the thickened adherent arachnoid was performed to resolve spinal cord tethering. Next, a ventriculo-subarachnoid shunt was placed to provide sufficient flow of CSF. Clinical improvement was sustained for at least 22 months after surgery. The present surgical procedure may improve clinical outcome in patients with longitudinally extensive spinal adhesive arachnoiditis.