Info on Arnold-Chiari I, Idiopathic Syringomyelia, and Idiopathic Scoliosis: Causes and Insights

In November 2024, Dr. M. B. Royo-Salvador presented a groundbreaking study titled "Filum Disease Behind Fibromyalgia: A Preliminary Study " at the 13th International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology (ICBEB 2024) in Singapore. This research explores the potential link between Filum Disease and Fibromyalgia Syndrome , conditions that share numerous clinical features. The study involved 25 patients who underwent minimally invasive surgery to section the filum terminale using the Filum System® technique. Findings indicate a high prevalence of shared symptoms, including headaches, neck pain, limb pain, and fatigue , among others. The discussion suggests that spinal cord traction from Filum Disease may impair perfusion and brain metabolism, altering pain sensitivity and leading to spinal sensitization, similar to C entral Sensitivity Syndromes like Fibromyalgia . The study concludes that Filum Disease and Fibromyalgia are likely closely related , sharing ...

There is a multitude of information circulating in the professional domain as well as in communication channels that, if on the one hand it offers different perspectives, on the other, it can complicate understanding and decision making. Medical and health professionals have a responsibility commitment to the sick, to transfer information as clear and exhaustive as possible, to allow them to make the most appropriate decisions about their own health. The Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona (ICSEB) promotes education and the dissemination of knowledge, being aware that all this affects the patients’ decisions about her/his health and safety . It is on that account that we have prepared this open letter.  We would like to alert about the possible risks of relying on professionals who do not act with due prudence when offering a surgical treatment that they claim is the same as the one practiced by our team. As a matter of fact, they do not ha...

Today, 28 February 2019, the 12 th edition of Rare Disease Day is celebrated worldwide. This year’s theme revolves around “ bridging health and social care ”. AI.SAC.SI.SCO. (Associazione Internazionale Sindrome d’Arnold-Chiari, Siringomielia e Scoliosi – Arnold-Chiari Syndrome, Idiopathic Syringomyelia and Idiopathic Scoliosis International Association ): ·    Supports the Chiari & Scoliosis & Syringomyelia Foundation , which promotes the development of scientific research projects; ·    Bears the logo of the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona ( ICSEB) , as its members are patients who underwent the sectioning of the Filum Terminale according to the Filum System ® health method . This protocolized method has been designed for the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with conditions that are considered to be rare, mainly the Arnold-Chiari Syndrome Type I, Idiopathic Syringomyelia and all c...

The patient had mobility problems in her lower extremities. She didn’t have strength in her legs to stand and was using a wheelchair. Diagnosed with the Neuro-Cranio-Vertebral Syndrome. Filum disease. Descent of the Cerebellar tonsils (Arnold-Chiari Syndrome Type I). Idiopathic Syringomyelia. Multiple disk disease. Odontoid retroflexion, she went the minimally invasive procedure of the sectioning of the filum terminale according to the Filum System® at the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona in July 2018. You can see recordings from the pre-op day, one day after the procedure and one week post-op.  

We are very pleased and grateful to be able to share Mireille's story today; the video was recorded in February 2018. The patient was diagnosed with Neuro-Cranio-Vertebral Syndrome . Filum Disease . Descent of the Cerebellar Tonsils (Arnold-Chiari Syndrome Type I). Idiopathic Syringomyelia and Multiple Disc Disease and underwent the surgical procedure at the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona (ICSEB) in October 2016. 

We are very happy and grateful to be able to share our young patient Taylor's account of her experience today.

On June 12, 2018, the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona (ICSEB) celebrated its 10 th anniversary. In this interview, founder and director, Dr. Miguel B. Royo Salvador , explains the fundamental stages through which the Institut has passed during its 10 years of excellence; which have led ICSEB to become a centre of international reference for the diagnosis, treatment and follow up of the Filum Disease.  – Good morning Dr. Royo Salvador. –  Good morning –  On the occasion of the 10 th anniversary of the Institut Chiari de Barcelona, I will ask you some questions. –  My pleasure –  For this occasion, the motto “10 years of excellence” was chosen. What do you want to express with this phrase? –  We want to highlight the work we have done since the inauguration of the Institut Chiari de Barcelona, with the objective of applying new medical concepts, which we have proposed through previous research. It...

We are happy to be able to celebrate our 10th anniversary and strive to continue to share our knowledge and experience regarding the Filum Disease to the benefit of patients everywhere. We want to thank everyone who put their trust in the Filum System® method and in our Institute.  Thank you for your lovely messages! Greetings from our patients Greetings from collaborators    Greetings from Patient Associations    

Since 2008, the ICSEB team has looked after patients from 61 countries, offering a worldwide unique treatment based on more than 40 years of experience. On 12 June 2008, the doors of the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona (ICSEB) headquarters opened for the first time to the public. The opening ceremony, even though it only seemed to be a starting point, was actually also the culmination of an intense medical and scientific work that had started in the seventies led by Dr. Miguel B. Royo-Salvador, ICSEB’s Director and Founder. At the beginning of his investigation, Dr. Royo focused on the cause of idiopathic Syringomyelia , followed by that of the Arnold-Chiari Syndrome Type I and, later, the cause of idiopathic Scoliosis . He reached the conclusion that these three conditions, together with other associated ones, share a common point: the cause. According to scientific criteria, the origin of these conditions is an abnormal tension of a...

Cícera dos Santos tells the story of her sister, Maria do Socorro, diagnosed with Arnold-Chiari Syndrome Type I six years ago and operated by means of suboccipital craniotomy (SOC, decompression surgery) four years ago. After the surgery, the patient coninued to get worse: intensification of the pain, breathing difficulty, loss of strength in the upper and lower extremities and many other symptoms. Due to the deterioration of her clinic, she had to start using a wheelchair to move around since August 2017. In addition, Maria do Socorro lost her voice (*) in April of last year. For this reasons it is her sister, Cícera, who is telling her story in this video. Cícera explains that, after the craniotomy, her sister had started investigating about her pathology on the Internet and that she had found the ICSEB and it was like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. From that moment, both of them started a big group effort to make the trip to Barcelona viable. ...

Award Ceremony Past Friday, 16 March 2018, at Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona (ICSEB)’s main offices, Ms. Eva Subirá Jiménez, Director of AENOR Catalunya (Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification), officially delivered the Quality Management System Certification based on the UNE-EN ISO 9001:2015 standard*, for the following activities: Research, diagnosis and treatment of Filum Disease Diagnosis and treatment of neurosurgical diseases

Today we would like to share yet another wonderful patient story. Rafael, a young patient affected by the Neuro-Cranio-Vertebral Syndrome, Filum Disease with an intramedullary cyst (idiopathic Syringomyelia) had to rely on a wheelchair to get around when he arrived at the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona for his first consultation. After receiving the confirmation that he was a candidate for the Filum System® health method, he underwent the minimally invasive surgical procedure that is part of this method (the sectioning of teh filum terminale). In this video you can follow his post-op course during the first weeks after the procedure with short clips recorded by his family and at the Institute. Here in Barcelona we are very happy for Rafael and his family and very grateful to be able to share these images. We wish him the best for his recovery and rehabilitation and hope to continue seeing these great results.

Many of the patients who have been diagnosed with the Arnold-Chiari Syndrome, idiopathic Syringomyelia, idiopathic Scoliosis and/or other associated conditions, who elected the Filum System® health method as their treatment of choice, show great kindness and generosity in sharing their experiences in written and video accounts for other patients in similar situations to consider and to raise awareness around the globe.  Meet some of these greathearted individuals and find out about their stories. Nicolas is today eight year old boy who underwent Sectioning of the Filum terminale procedure at a very young age, with only three years. His parents describe how they first felt about the diagnosis and travelling abroad for treatment and share MR imaging from check ups over the years. The most recent MRI reading indicates: ”currently an obvious decrease of the small hydro-syringomyelic cavity between C6and T1 can is observed”. Read the full account and see the ...

With the occasion of the release of the renewed Chiari & Scoliosis & Syringomyelia Foundation website, we would like to share this letter from the organization's president Dr. Miguel B. Royo-Salvador. My research quest initiated in the mid-seventies, it focused mainly on the cause of idiopathic Syringomyelia, followed by that of the Arnold-Chiari Syndrome Type I and later, on that of idiopathic Scoliosis. I reached the conclusion that the origin of these conditions, and that of many other associated ones, was an abnormal traction of the spinal cord brought about by a congenitally tenser than usual filum terminale.    I laid the theoretical foundations for a new treatment for these pathologies by means of the surgical sectioning of the Filum Terminale with my doctoral thesis “Contribution to the Etiology of Syringomyelia” (1992). The outcome was the constitution of the health method Filum System ® , a protocolised system designed for the diagnosis and ...

These days, on 23 and 24 February 2017, the first edition of the “ Filum System ® Medical – Course for mental health professionals” is taking place in Barcelona. This course has been organized by the Filum Academy Barcelona ® in collaboration with Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona . The attendeesare mental health professionals who are interested in the “ Filum Disease ” and the psychological changes caused by this condition, as well as the role of psychotherapy in the post-sectioning of the filum terminale rehabilitation process.

Today we would like to share with share with you a video testimonial from a patient diagnosed with Neuro-Cranio-Vertebral Syndrome. Filum Disease. Descent of the cerebellar tonsils (DCT. Arnold-Chiari Syndrome I), recorded twenty days after her surgery according to the Filum System® . Our lovely patient is from Brazil and tells us her experience in Portuguese, but you can find a summary in English below.    Surgery date: June 2016   Miss De Oliveira tells us that she was not able top lay and run like other children when she was little because she suffered from pain and breathing difficulties. Her situation got worse in her teens as the pain increased in the head and body, together with fatigue and tremors in legs and eyes. There was a deterioration of the symptoms at the age of seventeen and she saw many physicians of different specialties over the next two years and received different diagnoses, from sinusitis to...

We will be addressing some recurring questions among our patients in today's post.    What should you do when your doctor indicates a surgery? Surgical indication must be the result of a detailed study of the case, which takes into consideration all factors, like possible diagnosis and treatments, age, quality of life, expectations, etc. When is the application of Filum System® (FS ® ) surgical protocol indicated for the Filum Disease? As soon as possible after the disease has been diagnosed, to eliminate its cause and prevent the pathology from developing further. The diagnosis Filum Disease means that there is a progressive physical and especially a neurological deterioration ongoing.

Observations on idiopathic Scoliosis based on a work presented by Gioia Luè , psychologist, at the 8th CSSf Meeting in Mâcon, France, in 2014.    Patients with scoliosis, in the 12 to 18 age group, talk to us and express their daily life problems and disappointments due to this disease. The delicacy of their relationship with their changing bodies during adolescence is well known. If to this precarious balance a misalignment of the vertebral column is added, provoking an incorrect posture that is less attractive and requires certain special care, it is readily apparent that the difficulties can go from being physical to social and psychological.

I would like to know if an Arnold Chiari I Syndrome can be operated on in an initial phase / I am being told that the descent of my cerebellar tonsils is not a Arnold Chiari I Syndrome, because it is of few millimetres, and that it does not need to be operated.  Do you agree with this indication? As soon as a descent of the cerebellar tonsils is detected, even if it is mild, our specialists study the complementary magnetic resonance scans, and/or others, in order to confirm whether this is due, or not, to a mechanical traction and identify the cause that brings it about. Example of a mild descent of the cerebellar tonsils.   If the existence of a mechanical traction of the spinal cord is confirmed, and the cause is an excessively tight filum terminale ( Filum Disease ), the SFT procedure is indicated as soon as possible in order to eliminate the traction that is traumatizing the spinal cord. For more Q & A vi sit our website .