Percutaneous balloon myelotomy for treatment of hydromyelia: technical note.

Hydromyelia is a disorder in which the central canal of the spinal cord is distended with spinal fluid . The hydromyelia may be segmental, polysegmental, or holocord [1]. Many surgical techniques have been employed for the decompression of symptomatic hydromyelia, including hydromyelio-subarachnoid or hydromyelio-peritoneal shunts, aspiration of the syrinx cavity, terminal ventriculostomy, and obex plugging [2]. Percutaneous myelotomy with a small-vessel balloon angioplasty catheter offers an alternative treatment.