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Optimal Recovery
Return to Sport, Return to Life
Traditional treatment of arachnoid cysts used to be an open craniotomy to extract or drain the cyst, an extremely aggressive procedure. Today, the tools and technology have improved tremendously, allowing us at the NeuroSpine Institute to treat arachnoid cysts through endoscopic means. A minimally invasive surgery, endoscopic removal of the cyst is far more advantageous to the patient who can expect a better prognosis due to less exposure and tissue trauma, increased visibility of the surgeon while performing the procedure, shorter recovery time, and minimal postoperative discomfort.
Arachnoid cysts are benign fluid collections inside the arachnoid membrane—one of three membranous layers which cover the brain and spinal cord. The cyst is filled with a liquid comparable to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Arachnoid cysts are considered congenital, meaning it has existed since infancy, however onset of symptoms might be postponed until adolescence when the cyst has enlarged. Documented to be the cause of about 1% of most intracranial space-occupying lesions, arachniod cysts may never produce any signs or symptoms, in which case those would only ever be detected through MRIs that were performed for other reasons. Some arachnoid cysts, however, are symptomatic, and through the exertion of pressure on the surrounding brain or by interfering with the dynamics of the CSF circulation the effects are detected.
Arachnoid cysts tend to be more common in males than females. The most prevalent localization of arachnoid cysts is in the middle cranial fossa, but they can also exist in the sellar and parasellar regions, around the foramen magnum, between the two brain hemispheres, or along the cerebral convexities.
