The Chiari malformations: a review with emphasis on anatomical traits

Hindbrain herniations come in many forms and have been further subdivided as their original descriptions. For cerebellar tonsillar ectopia, they can be divided into two categories, acquired and congenital. Acquired hindbrain herniations are due to increased intracranial pressure caused by certain conditions such as trauma or brain tumor. Although the mechanism for their formation is not clear, congenital hindbrain herniation makes up the majority of these congenital malformations. Furthermore, these malformations are often found to harbor additional anatomical derailments in addition to the hindbrain herniation whether it be the cerebellar tonsils (Chiari I malformation) or the cerebellar vermis (Chiari II malformation). This article reviews these forms of cerebellar ectopia and describes the details of their anomalous anatomy. Moreover, this article compares and contrasts the differing embryological theories found in this literature.