#84 Dr Brianna Cardenas & Dr. Andrew Maxwell discuss Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) leaks

Today we discuss: Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) leaks

Agenda: 

 1. Dr. Cardenas: Tell us your story! 

 2.     So, what is a CSF leak? 

a.     What is leaking? From where? Why do leaks happen? 

b.     Common symptoms? Uncommon symptoms? 

c.     Why don’t more people know about this? 

3.     Okay, so let’s go back to basic anatomy & let’s go from general to specific- talk to us about: 

a.     connective tissue

b.     vasculature

c.     central nervous system flow: CSF, lymph, blood

d.     Relationship with bones like CCI, Eagle’s, others?

e.     Relationship with the vasculature/ flow in the rest of the body like pelvic venous congestion

4.     How do we evaluate for this?

b.     Imaging

c.     Blood patches 

d.     Embolization 

5.     How do we TREAT this? 

a.     Immediate: Blood patches/ embolization/ pressure adjustments (meds, etc) 

b.     Counter facial strain. What is it & how does it help? Role for other physical tx like PT/ chiro?

Bio: Dr Brianna Cardenas is a Physician Assistant, a certified athletic trainer and the founder of Healed and Empowered, an organization that specializes in optimizing health among those living with chronic illness. She has recently joined the team at NeuroVeda Health where she brings 13 years of healthcare experience. She is also a patient living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, an “invisible” condition that can be hard to diagnose and often discounted by healthcare providers as a result. Brianna’s lived experience as a patient informs her work as a healthcare provider to others.Bio: Dr. Maxwell is a Board Certified Pediatric Cardiologist and Pediatrician. He received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins Medical School and a Residency in Pediatrics at The University of California at San Francisco followed by clinical and research fellowships in Pediatric Cardiology at Lucile Salter Packard and Stanford Hospitals and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His research interests include study of endothelial control of vasomotor tone, nitric oxide, sports cardiology, dysautonomia, hypermobility syndromes, & mast cell activation syndrome and their relationships to environmental toxins. For his research he received an American Heart Association Award for Research in Molecular Biology and was an American College of Cardiology Young Investigator Award finalist. He has published many articles and book chapters on these subjects. For his clinical work, he has been voted by his peers as a Top Doctor in Northern California annually since 2017.

Resources/ Links/ Articles: 

·       https://www.eds.clinic/articles/spiky-leaky-syndrome

·       https://www.medicalandresearch.com/current_issue/1962