[Chiari I. malformation, a new childhood disease?]

From July 1, 1994 to July 1, 1997 a total of 17 children with Chiari I malformation diagnosed by MRI was seen in our hospital. Six of them underwent craniocervical decompression and tonsilar resection. The major complaints of all these children were gait ataxia and persisting (longer than 6 month) headache, and one child had acutely presenting vertigo and problem of swallowing. The MRI showed that in all cases the tonsils were displaced below the level of CI. Hydrocephalus or syrinx was not seen. At surgery the tonsils were resected. All the patients can be considered cured and symptom free at an average follow up of 13 month.