Between October 1993 and July 2017, more than 1000 patients affected by the Neuro-Cranio-Vertebral Syndrome and/or the Filum Disease with Arnold-Chiari I, Syringomyelia and Scoliosis (in different diagnostic combinations) have been treated according to the guidelines of the FILUM SYSTEM®.
In the majority of cases a positive evolution was obtained, with a high patient satisfaction rate.
For some years now, patients in the follow-up postoperative phase have been invited to write testimonials about their clinical history for our website.
We highly appreciate their open-hearted and selfless involvement by expressing their views on our exclusive treatment methods.
NOTE: The opinions expressed in the testimonials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona.
Published by ICSEB on 12 January, 2024 with the patient's consent
Surgery date 04/07/2023 A few years ago, I was diagnosed with Chiari 1. Like many of you I tried everything to reduce my symptoms, particularly the constant pain in my head. When nothing else helped I was urged toward decompression surgery. I felt that it was my final and only option left. I was confident…
Published by ICSEB on 27 October, 2023 with the patient's consent
11 years Post Intervention-Sectioning of the Filum Terminale 31st May 2023 Hello my name is Melissa Den and I live in Australia. In September of 2012 I was diagnosed with Cord Traction Syndrome, Descent of the Cerebellar Tonsils and Discopathy. Following this diagnosis I underwent the Sectioning of the Filum Terminale by Dr M. B….
Published by ICSEB on 29 September, 2023 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: 15/12/2020 Date of the testimonial: 12/7/2023 Joyful updates I discovered that I had Arnold-Chiari Syndrome when I was 18 years old, inquiring about a headache that was eventually confirmed to be unrelated to the pathology. The tonsil descent was minimal, I was completely asymptomatic and so I decided, together with the neurosurgeon I…
Published by ICSEB on 9 December, 2022 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: 15/09/22 Hi! It’s a pleasure for me to be an inspiration for other patients with the same diagnosis as mine. I feel that there are so many people in the world that need to know about the Institut Chiari, Dr Royo and the Filum Disease. I’m feeling quite well, I walk in the…
Published by ICSEB on 10 December, 2021 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: 29/09/2020 Testimonial date: 10/11/2021 Brazilian patient Rosa Maria Andrade de Oliveira, 53, sent us an email a year after her intervention with our medical team. Mrs. Andrade arrived at ICSEB for the first time in September 2018 for an in-person consultation with our medical team, but couldn’t undergo surgery until 2 years later….
Published by ICSEB on 3 July, 2020 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: 28/11/2017 The story of a family Hello, my name is Joanna Hoffmann. I am Polish and I live in Poland with my family. I would like to tell you about my family situation and the illness we have suffered, for the sake of other patients who are facing many years of diagnoses, looking…
Published by ICSEB on 9 March, 2020 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: 8 November 2018 “Taking an unplanned break in our life” My name is Angéline, I’m 36, a wife and mother of 2 beautiful children. Sharing my experience here has a liberating effect and hopefully will help those who are stuck in the process of finding the appropriate treatment. Since 2016 my life and…
Published by ICSEB on 1 October, 2019 with the patient's consent
Testimony update: 2019 I would like to give my testimony 10 years after my Filum Terminale Section practiced in Barcelona. Dr. ROYO operated on me in 2009; I can affirm that I am fine, I would say very well compared to my status in 2009 (see testimonial of the postoperative from 2009). Many signs have…
Published by ICSEB on 19 June, 2019 with the patient's consent
San Giovanni in Fiore, 31th May 2019 31th May is a special day for me. I could say it is my ninth birthday because nine years ago I was born again. Today, I want to send a special thanks to those who improve people’s lives every day, as it has happened to me. After nine…
Published by ICSEB on 29 April, 2019 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: 22/11/2018 First of all, my deepest gratitude to the medical team headed by Dr. Marco V. Fiallos and my congratulations to Dr. Royo on the Institut’s 10th anniversary I want my testimonial to serve as a thank you for your work and efforts for so many years and as a proof of the…
Published by ICSEB on 9 November, 2018 with the patient's consent
Surgery Date: 13 September 2016 It has been over 2 years since my surgery. I wanted to wait a long time to give feedback. This is my experience. I suffered with symptoms for a long time. They continued to get progressively worse until I couldn’t take it anymore. Before surgery, literally every time I changed…
Published by ICSEB on 27 August, 2018 with the patient's consent
Surgery Date: July 2016 Jesus led me to the Institute de Chiari de Barcelona, and the clinic/surgeons/staff in Spain saved my life, got me out of the bed, and gave me and my family HOPE and a quality of life! I whole-heartedly recommend that patients struggling with Chiari or tethered cord (tight filum) or related…
Published by ICSEB on 7 December, 2017 with the patient's consent
Testimony update: 21/06/2017 Nicholas’s Magnetic Resonance Images Previous to the SFT according to the Filum System® After the SFT according to the Filum System® The most recent MRI reading indicates: ”currently an obvious decrease of the small hydro-syringomyelic cavity between C6and T1 can is observed”. Surgery date 5/7/2012 Hello everybody, my…
Published by ICSEB on 30 June, 2017 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: February 2008 My name is Daniela Putzolu, I was born in Nuoro (Italy) on 01/02/1980 and I live in Macomer. I’m going to tell you my story briefly: I started to study dance in Macomer at the age of four and I did it until I was thirteen. I had always headaches and…
Published by ICSEB on 28 November, 2016 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: June 2015 My name is Olga, I am from Tver (Russia) and I am 28 years old. Everything started in school; I often had headaches, dizziness, sometimes vomiting, was easily fatigued, weakness and darkness of eyesight. The doctors, without examining me, diagnosed only vegetative-vascular dystonia. And that’s how years went by. Until I…
Published by ICSEB on 10 November, 2015 with the patient's consent
Surgery Date: July 2012 My name is Maria Sol Prado Pérez. I am 49 years old and I currently live in Ponferrada (Leon, Spain). 4 years ago I was operated with the technique of the Sectioning of the Filum Terminale at the Institut Chiari & Siringomielia & Escoliosis de Barcelona by Dr. Royo and his…
Published by ICSEB on 2 September, 2015 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: July 2014 Hello everybody, A year ago (2014) our daughter was operated in the Institut Chiari de Barcelona. Now she is feeling very good. All thanks to the surgery that was done at the Institut Chiari de Barcelona. Now, as a year has passed after the surgery, my wife and I have…
Published by ICSEB on 20 May, 2015 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: November 2013 Hi all, my name is Emanuele. I’m 35 years old and live in Turin. What I can say … since childhood I had many ups and downs on psychological as well as physical level. Just think that I was called “virus” in my family because each day I had a…
Published by ICSEB on 19 March, 2015 with the patient's consent
Kevin’s letter to Dr Royo with an update Dear Dr Royo, I am writing to you to say hello and to inform you that I am feeling very well since you performed the Surgery. My family and I are truly very grateful to you, because otherwise I would not have been able to spend such…
Published by ICSEB on 22 December, 2014 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: November 2014 I’m a 40-year-old man from Japan. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Royo for having researched this disease and designed the surgical technique to treat it. I also would like to thank Dr. Fiallos, who visited me and operated on me, and Mrs. Yuka Takahashi for being…
Published by ICSEB on 8 April, 2014 with the patient's consent
Rome, 30/03/2014 Dear Dr. Miguel B. Royo Salvador, I have decided to write this letter in Facebook not only because I consider it just to thank you publicly and express my infinite gratitude and consideration, but also because I hope that my words can help people who are suffering from same genetic, rare and incurable…
Published by ICSEB on 23 December, 2013 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: october 2013 My name is Paola Sacchiero and I am 52 years old. When I was 6 years old I began to suffer from severe headaches accompanied by vomiting. I was diagnosed with migraine. In 2005, I suffered from sciatica. I could not walk due to the intense pain and I underwent surgery…
Published by ICSEB on 4 June, 2013 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: January 2012 My name is Anna, I live in Moscow (Russia). I am 48 years old. I want to try to briefly tell my story. The first symptoms appeared when I was studying at school, without an apparent cause I started getting headaches and vertigos. After a few check ups at different clinics,…
Published by ICSEB on 8 April, 2013 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: March 2008 My name is Angela Grieco and I live in Italy, in the province of Matera. I would like to tell you about how I discovered that I had Arnold Chiari I and Syringomyelia. Since adolescence I started to have strong neuralgias in the face, neck and eyes. Over the years these…
Published by ICSEB on 5 March, 2013 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: May 2012 Hello. I underwent the sectioning of the Filum Terminale surgery in Spain on 22 of May 2012, with a diagnosis of Arnold Chiari, without Syringomyelia. It all started put with a sudden headache on December 2011, a doctor from Shanghai diagnosed a CSF leak caused by to a rupture in the…
Published by ICSEB on 21 February, 2013 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: May 2011 Hi All, My name is Michaela, I’m 22 years old and I live in a small village of Calabria in Italy. I am writing these few lines with the hope to help all those people like me who are affected by Arnold Chiari Syndrome Type 1. Since childhood I had…
Published by ICSEB on 6 February, 2013 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: June 2012 It is unbelievable that this disease, even though it is not as rare as we think, is known so little, even by physicians. I am going to tell you my story; I will try to summarise 3 months in a few lines. One morning in the middle of March 2012 after…
Published by ICSEB on 3 December, 2012 with the patient's consent
Date of the surgery: July 2011. The Sectioning of the filum terminale worked to cure my Chiari 1 symptoms. I suffered from Chiari 1 from 2007 until 2012. My symptoms were headache and right lateral Nystagmus ( Dizzyness.) In July of 2011. I had the section of the Filum terminale by Dr Royo Salvador of the Institut Chiari…
Published by ICSEB on 8 October, 2012 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: December 2011 My name is Annalisa Caicci, I am 27 years old, I live in the Province of Padua and on 20 December 2011 Dr. Royo performed surgery on me. I never had any problems during my childhood: I always did ballet, lots of sports and movement. From April 2004 onwards, following a…
Published by ICSEB on 26 September, 2012 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: May 2012 Dr. Miguel B. Royo Salvador performed surgery on me on 31 May 2012 and since then I hold this date as the date of my second birth! These aren´t bombastic words; this is my current and objective existence. I learned about my disease after having a MRI done in 2012. Beforehand…
Published by ICSEB on 4 September, 2012 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: April 2012 We are Carmine and Maria Cavallo, Italians from the Brindisi region. We very much want to and also feel that it is our duty to tell our story for those who have discovered that they affected by the Chiari I syndrome. We are a young couple with two kids, Nunzia of…
Published by ICSEB on 9 July, 2012 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: June 2012-07-09 My name is Kvartalnaya Alina, I am 51 years old. I was diagnosed in 2007 with Arnold Chiari I syndrome and syringomyelia. I had surgery in Novosibirsk, after the surgery I was doing more or less fine for two years, but in 2009 my toes started to go numb and my…
Published by ICSEB on 17 May, 2012 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: February 2012 My name is Dina Lopes-Basten, I am 49 years old, I am originally from Portugal and live in Berlin since 1988. I was diagnosed with an Arnold Chiari malformation in October 2011 after many tests in vain in the previous years. I had been suffering from the symptoms, especially…
Published by ICSEB on 23 April, 2012 with the patient's consent
Surgery date: January 2012 My name is Monia, I am 38 years old and live in Italy. My experience starts with the report of a MRI of the entire spine, due to an annoying backache that would not leave me alone and that I would define as “strange”, since the pain wasn’t confined to the…
Published by ICSEB on 23 April, 2012 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: March 2012 My name is Mercedes Magriñá, I am 61 years old and I live in Pineda de Mar, Barcelona, Spain. I would like to tell my story so that all those people that may have doubts can the decision that may well be the decision that will improve their lives completely….
Published by ICSEB on 10 April, 2012 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: November 2011 My name is Marialuisa Tripodi. I am 47 years old. In 2005 I found out that I was suffering from Syringomyelia from Arnold Chiari Syndrome but my problems originated long before…. And after my second pregnancy, in 1993, I began to suffer rare disorders: frequent sores in the oral cavity, long…
Published by ICSEB on 18 October, 2011 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: July 2010 My story In 2009, after suffering some problems like detrussor dyssinergia, the so called neurogenic bladder and a few nightmarish years with unbelievable pains, headaches, that conditioned me stay in bed for several days without being to move my head for just a millimetre, fainting, etc., I was diagnosed with…
Published by ICSEB on 15 September, 2011 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: June 2010 Date of surgery: June 2010 My name is Virginia, I am 37 years old and come from Bilbao. I am telling about my experiences first of all to thank Dr. Royo and Dr. Fiallos as well as the rest of the team for their good way of treating me, their…
Published by ICSEB on 11 July, 2011 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery : April 2011 Hi, my name is Greta De Lucia. I am 12 years old, during January of this year after having had various symtoms and fainting various times during the day, this made my life impossible, they then hospitalized me and diagnosed me with Arnold Chiari I Syndrome. Here in Italy…
Published by ICSEB on 16 June, 2011 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: June 2010 My name is Maria Concetta Zimbato, I live in Regio Calabria, I am 52 years old and according to diverse specialists who I contacted, I suffer from Arnold Chiari I Syndrome and Syringomyelia. I will try to briefly tell you how I got to Dr. Royo´s hands at the CIMA…
Published by ICSEB on 8 July, 2010 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: July 2010 Hello to everyone, my name is Omara, I am 14 years old and come from Cartagena. Before anything, I hope that my testimonial will be helpful to all of you who suffer from the vertebral column and encourage you to not loose your hope. If you do not feel well,…
Published by ICSEB on 16 May, 2010 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: May 2008 Hello everybody, my name is Rita Capoblianco and I live in Rome. Before telling you my story, I would like to give Dr. Royo a double thank you: first for what he did for me, and second for having offered me the possibility to help, through my testimony, those who…
Published by ICSEB on 28 March, 2010 with the patient's consent
Date of the surgery: March 2010. I am 46 years old. In the year 2005 I started to suffer from headaches and vertigo The pain was in the nape region, I felt pressure in the temple which irradiated to the eyes. Then I realized I could not take the subway, I didn´t feel well when…
Published by ICSEB on 19 January, 2010 with the patient's consent
Date of the surgery : January 2010. After three months from the surgery by Dr. Royo in Barcelona, I´m writing with the intention of helping people who need to read testimonials in order to feel themselves more confident about this treatment. I want to thank Dr. Royo and his precious team, because thanks to his…
Published by ICSEB on 29 December, 2009 with the patient's consent
(We are here reproducing an open letter from Dr. Francesco Crocè, a patient and physician who underwent the Sectioning of the Filum Terminale procedure. You can also see his testimony on this website – section “Testimonials”) Three years after the surgery of the Sectioning of the Filum Terminale carried out by the Institut Neurologic de…
Published by ICSEB on 2 December, 2009 with the patient's consent
Date of the intervention: December 2009 In October 2009, I was diagnosed with the Arnold Chiari I Syndrome. In my profession, I am a lawyer and a law professor in Lyon, France. I would like to share this testimonial in relation with the suggested technique by the Institut Chiari de Barcelona to cure patients…
Published by ICSEB on 1 September, 2009 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: September 2009 Since approximately 7 years, my throat feels tight and the impression of choke; as I often swallow my saliva through my respiratory tract, I constantly choke. Since approximately 3 years, this cough causes me a sensation of explosion in my head that do not last for long but are vary…
Published by ICSEB on 4 June, 2009 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: June 2009 I waited for many years to find out to what corresponded my symptoms that sometimes seemed to be a mixture of causes and different pathologies, more frequent each time. I am not be able to count how many doctors I had to go through before getting to a true diagnosis,…
Published by ICSEB on 14 April, 2009 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: July 2003 Since I was a little girl I already suffered from back pain and cervical contractures, this is when my ordeal with doctors and clinics started. They simply did X-rays to me, nothing else and the diagnosis was always the same, contracture caused from my work. After a few years,…
Published by ICSEB on 25 February, 2009 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: February 2009 Hello, I am Angel Fernandez, I am 27 years old, I live in Valencia and I am Dr. Royo´s patient who suffered from Arnold Chiari I Syndrome, cervicodorsal Syringomyelia and idiopathic Scoliosis, but I was lucky to have found out about this before I even noticed any symptomatology. As a…
Published by ICSEB on 1 February, 2009 with the patient's consent
Date of surgery: February 2009 Hello, my name is Sandra, I am 11 years old and I come from Mallorca (Balearic Islands). A year ago I was diagnosed with Arnold Chiari I Syndrome. Everything started when I was 2 more or less with headaches. At first my parents didn´t take it seriously since these didn´t…
Published by ICSEB on 5 January, 2009 with the patient's consent
Date of the surgery: January 2009. Hello! My name is Eva Dominguez and I am 16 years old. Everything started during one afternoon of March 2005 when, my ballet teacher noticed I had something that was not right with my back position. When I finished class, she called my mother and told her to take…
Published by ICSEB on 7 November, 2008 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: November 2008 Hello my name is Maria Teresa Sanz Belomonte, I am 45 years old, I suffer from Arnold Chiari I Syndrome and this is my story. In the year 200, I suffered a terrible car accident in which I fractured my dorsal vertebrates in D-2D3-D4. I recovered well at a traumatologic…
Published by ICSEB on 1 July, 2008 with the patient's consent
Date of the surgery: July 2008. Good morning, my dears: My name is Giovanna Porro, a 46 year old Italian girl and I would like to tell you my story. I have already been a very thin girl and when I was little girl I always suffered headache attacks. I was a very good student;…
Published by ICSEB on 23 October, 2007 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: October 2007 I am a 48 year old doctor. My clinic history, resuming it, begins the 20/05/2007, at the end of a soccer game, I felt pain in the region of the left scapular. Thinking it was a muscular pain, I attended therapy with an anti inflammatory non- steroid drug named “Fans”…
Published by ICSEB on 17 April, 2007 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: April 2007 Osio Sotto- Bergamo Italy- January 8th of 2009. Testimonial of the section of the filum terminale. I am a 48-year-old woman. Since my childhood I have suffered from headaches and once reaching adulthood, everything got worse. In the year 2000 I started to cough, which caused the headaches that got…
Published by ICSEB on 3 March, 2007 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: March 2007 Hello, I am 21 years old and a patient of Dr Royo, that suffers Arnold Chiari I Syndrome, Syringomyelia and Scoliosis and with luck i found out that i had all of these before noting the symptoms. From when i was a little girl, i was always complaining of headaches…
Published by ICSEB on 13 February, 2007 with the patient's consent
Data of intervention: February 2007 I am Mercedes Reverter Segarra of 61 years, 35 years ago I suffered backaches, firstly it was only lumbar pain and even remaining myself in the bed. Later the thing was as well complicating itself also with cervical pain. I went to the doctors, whom which gave me medication for…
Published by ICSEB on 13 November, 2006 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: November 2006 Those that have past through this experience we want to say so many things that refer about the same thing, but we don´t know where to begin.. I am 48 years old and have been having headaches for almost 4 years, I don´t remember, a year and a half ago…
Published by ICSEB on 4 July, 2006 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: July 2006 I was 65 when in May 2005 I began to have triggering sharp pains incide the head, like electrical shocks, that radiated through the posterior part towards frontal areas and the eyes, its duration was for 15 seconds – 20 seconds, as as months went by the pain accenuated and…
Published by ICSEB on 10 June, 2006 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: June 2006 Next I detail the symptoms that I was noticing after the operation of Filum Terminal, things that before made my daily life difficult. 1. Cervical pain, now it has disappeared.. 2. I am having more force in my legs. 3. I had constant pain in the lumbar region, now nothing….
Published by ICSEB on 7 June, 2006 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: June 2006 Ever since I have reason for use, I remember the strange sensations and annoyances, which in that time, came up to a medical conclusion. I also have coming back to my mind the abstention of action sports; the dizziness in the gym classes as I made determined movements. I had…
Published by ICSEB on 13 December, 2005 with the patient's consent
Date of intervention: December 2005 It was Tuesday 13th, just like today, when I went in the surgery room so that Dr. Royo could cut my filum terminale. After he cut it the changes were not spectacular, which I didn´t expect them to be but at least I wasn´t fooled. The first change was right…
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