Experimental communicating syringomyelia in dogs after cisternal kaolin injection. Part 2. Pressure studies.

Pressure measurements in cerebrospinal fluid have been made from the ventricles and the spinal subarachnoid space in dogs made hydrocephalic by intracisternal injections of kaolin. Raised intraventricular pressure has been confirmed in the confirmed in the ventricles. The spinal pressure is usually markedly different from that in the head, confirming that the arachnoiditis produced around the cistern isolates the spinal subarachnoid space from the CSF in the head. Pulsatile pressures have been investigated specifically and the interrelationship between the pulsation and baseline pressures in the development of communicating syringomyelia discussed. There are differences between these experimental animals and the human disease, particularly in the baseline pressures which are usually equal in the head and the spine of humans at rest even in cases with syringomyelia.