Expansive duralplasty and subarachnoid reconstruction for spinal adhesive arachnoiditis using Gore-Tex surgical membrane

Effective surgical treatment of adhesive spinal arachnoiditis has not been established because of its complex clinical manifestation. The authors present a new surgical technique to minimize the postoperative recurrence of adhesion after microlysis of adhesion to treat spinal adhesive arachnoiditis. After complete release and reconstruction of the spinal cord, a 0.1 mm Gore-Tex surgical membrane was placed over the cord and fixed to the lateral dural surface with stay sutures. Furthermore, maximal expansion of a subarachnoid space was performed by expansive dural plasty with a 0.3 mm Gore-Tex surgical membrane. We performed this surgical method in tree cases of spinal adhesive arachnoiditis. During a postoperative follow-up period ranging from 2 to 3 years, postoperative neurological deterioration did not occur in all cases, and postoperative MR imaging studied showed no adhesion spinal cord and reconstructed subarachnoid space. The authors believe that this procedure is an effective surgical treatment for spinal adhesive arachnoiditis.