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 ...

  On September 28, the International Arnold-Chiari Syndrome Day is celebrated, with the main objective of generating social awareness about this disease that is still little known; which generates a series of problems for people who suffer from it. Unfortunately, most of the patients we attend at Institut Chiari & Siringomyelia & Escoliosis de Barcelona, ​​apart from the pain they suffer, report having spent a long time trying to obtain a correct diagnosis and suffer from a lack of understanding regarding their symptoms. -both by health professionals and family members-. For this reason, we want to join this day to show all our support to the patients and relatives who live with this pathology -which is much more frequent than it seems-, providing the most valuable tool: information about this syndrome, based on more than 40 years of research by Dr. Royo Salvador and his team. This link explains the different types of Arnold-Chiari Syndrome, the symptoms and the treatments ...

We are delighted to share the good news with you: thanks to the good evolution of the pandemic, the increase in the vaccinated population -including ICSEB staff-, the decrease in travel restrictions by the Spanish government, and the decrease in the rates of infection and mortality; from now on,   our Institute will again receive patients without the need of carrying out a PCR-test or any analytical test related with Covid-19 to access the medical visits on our premises . We will continue to apply all the necessary precautions to ensure your protection:  the use of masks, hand hygiene, and interpersonal distance. We hope that with the new possibilities of international travel and the progressive reduction of the restrictions previously imposed due to healthcare measures, many patients who were waiting for this moment will finally be able to travel to our center so that our team of specialists can help them as soon as possible. You can now book your medical appointments!

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...

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.  

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...

Almost a year ago now, Dr. Miguel B. Royo-Salvador, MD, PhD, Director of the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona and President of the Chiari & Scoliosis  & Syringomyelia Foundation , published a bibliographic review on the surgical technique of the foramen magnum decompression in two of the conditions this blog is mainly concerned with, the Arnold-Chiari Syndrome Type I and idiopathic Syringomyelia in the online edition of the Rare Disease Report . Today we would like to introduce this text here on the blog, hoping that you will find it of interest. He discusses the existen debate in the medical world on making the accurate diagnosis and the existence of different types of the Arnold-Chiari Syndrome and the different treatment approaches for this condition and for the often associated idiopathic Syringomyelia. He analyzes what is currently the standard treatment, the foramen magnum decompression, with regards to the associated risks and ...

We are pleased to announce that the director of Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona , Dr. Royo Salvador, has been invited to collaborate with the association Worldwide Syringomyelia & Chiari Task Force and to join the medical board of this association that is based in the United States. It aims to educate professionals and patients about the diagnoses that included in the organization’s name. At the same time, it is promoting a study of these diseases at international level under the auspices of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Organization for Rare Disorders in North America. We are happy to share this collaboration and we hope it will be bring fruitful and lasting results for the benefit of patients throughout the world. The invitation letter sent to Dr. Royo by the association: http://institutchiaribcn.com/commons//pdf/communication-letters/Letter-WSCTF-ICSEB.pdf

We are grateful to Dr. Victoria for sharing his personal experience with two cases of Filum Disease in his family: his wife and his daughter.

Are you looking for more information about the different diagnoses that we treat at the Institut Chiari de Barcelona, about how to get in contact with the medical team, the risks involved in the surgical procedure, the reuqired aftercare, etc?   We  are pleased to inform that the " Frequently Asked Questions Section " on our website is now also available in English. Do you have any suggestions for other questions to be included? Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and let us know. FAQ - Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona

At the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona we are pleased to able to share with you that the current month of June marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of the paper titled “ Results of the section of the filum terminale in 20 patients with syringomyelia, scoliosis and Chiari malformation ” by Barcelona’s neurosurgeon and leader of his team Dr. Miguel B. ROYO SALVADOR in the renowned journal ACTA NEUROCHIRURGICA . The journal is the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies’ official publication.

 Registration and programme now available IX Chiari & Scoliosis & Syringomyelia Foundation Meeting     Lublin, Poland, on Saturday, 27th of June 2015 With the co-operation of the Polish Society of Neurosurgeons Lublin Delegation and the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona      Filum System. Outcomes in diagnosing and treating the Filum Disease: Arnold Chiari I Syndrome, Idiopathic Syringomyelia and Idiopathic Scoliosis  

“The Neuro-Cranio-Vertebral Syndrome caused by a congenital anomaly of an apparently normal Filum terminale, which however exerts a traction on the spinal cord and the entire nervous system” We consider the “Filum Disease” to be the condition that is caused by an anomalous traction exerted by the filum terminale ligament on the spinal cord. It finds its expression in form of different diseases which previously in medical history have been described as being independent from each other: the Arnold Chiari I Syndrome , Idiopathic Syringomyelia and Idiopathic Scoliosis , Platybasia , Basilar Invagination , Retroflexed Odontoid , Kinking of the brain stem and nocturnal Enuresis .

In today’s post we would like to introduce the different findings, fruit of many years of research and medical practice, which constitute the foundation of our current diagnostic and treatment method.  Dr. Royo Salvador’s research and studies started out in the seventies of the last century, in co-operation with the faculty of medicine of the Autonomous University Barcelona . Part of this research effort was concerned with diseases that are/were considered to be of unknown cause, as are idiopathic Syringomyelia, idiopathic Scoliosis and the Arnold Chiari I Syndrome (regarding the latter different ethiopathogenic theories were proposed at the time, we intent to discuss those further along on this blog) and its outcome are scientific findings that form the practical and theoretical basis to our Filum System ®  method and our Institut’s activity in general.

The Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona (ICSEB) is a highly specialised private centre that is concerned with offering advanced solutions on medical and neurosurgical level for brain and spine diseases. The Institut first comes into existence in Barcelona, Spain, in 2007, and is born out of the need of Miguel B. Royo Salvador, MD PhD, director and founder of the “Institut Neurologic de Barcelona”, for a space where he could dedicate himself to the three pathologies from that the centre takes its name: Arnold Chiari Syndrome I, Idiopathic Syringomyelia and Idiopathic Scoliosis.