Section for Neurosurgery, Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Bergen, and Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. chhe@helse-bergen.no
We have gradually adopted a liberal attitude towards surgical decompression of arachnoid cysts. This study describes the results from our institution.
Long term clinical and neuroimaging results of 156 adult patients (aged > or = 16 years) operated on for arachnoid cysts in our department during the period January 1987 to September 2004 were assessed based on their medical and neuroimaging records, and on a questionnaire.
The clinical and/or neuroimaging results indicated that the cyst was successfully decompressed in all patients. 82% of patients were asymptomatic or had insignificant complaints at follow-up. 12% reported no symptom relief whereas 6% experienced worsening of symptoms. The cyst disappeared after surgery, or was reduced to