Petra M Klinge

Professor

My professional interests in the past two decades have focused on the diagnosing and neurosurgical treatment of patients with tethered cord syndrome and Chiari malformation and related CSF disorders. I am also working on the unifying concept of cognitive problems and the related pathology in Chiari of the adult and pediatric patients. In the past 5 years, I have also collaborated with the University of Akron Conquer Chiari Research Center, founded by the Department of Psychology and the Department of Biomedical Engineering on the implications of ageing in Chiari as well as identifying cognitive and imaging biomarkers to support the biodynamic concept of the failure of Cerebrospinal fluid regulation at the base of the skull in adult Chiari malformation. My research has focused on the failure of “Myodural bridges” and defunct collagen that supports the aspects of CSF circulatory failure at the base of the skull in various conditions including Chiari associated with connective tissue disease. I work and have published on the novel concept of a “Spinal cord motion disorder” that might explain, and support occult neurosurgical pathologies associated with impaired CSF in Chiari malformation and “occult” tethering of the spinal cord and brain stem. I have pioneered the pathophysiology and diagnosis of “occult” tethered cord including clinical biomarkers for surgical intervention in tethered cord syndromes. (1-7) I have been appointed by the National Academy of Sciences and has served in 2022 in a committee to establish disability criteria for the neurological conditions in patients with Ehlers-Danlos-Syndrome and Marfan Syndrome as an nationally acknowledged expert for spinal cord disorders and tethered cord syndrome. Selected Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue and Disability | National Academies

1: Petra M Klinge, Owen P Leary, Philip A Allen, Konstantina Svokos, Patricia Sullivan, Thomas Brinker, Ziya L Gokaslan .J Neurosurg Spine. Clinical criteria for filum terminale resection in occult tethered cord syndrome. 2024 Mar 15;40(6):758-766. doi: 10.3171/2024.1.SPINE231191. Print 2024 Jun 1.

2: Klinge PM, McElroy A, Leary OP, Donahue JE, Mumford A, Brinker T, GokasAdv Exp Med Biol. 2022:1378:155-178. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-99550-8_11.Influence of Pain on Cognitive Dysfunction and Emotion Dysregulation in Chiari Malformation Type I. James R Houston 1, Jahangir Maleki 2, Francis Loth 3 4, Petra M Klinge 5, Philip A Allen

3: Shao B, Poggi JA, Amaral-Nieves N, Wojcik D, Ma KL, Leary OP, Klinge PM.
Compromised Cranio-Spinal Suspension in Chiari Malformation Type 1: A Potential
Role as Secondary Pathophysiology. J Clin Med. 2022 Dec 15;11(24):7437. doi:
10.3390/jcm11247437. PMID: 36556053; PMCID: PMC9788407.

4: Labuda R, Nwotchouang BST, Ibrahimy A, Allen PA, Oshinski JN, Klinge P, Loth
F. A new hypothesis for the pathophysiology of symptomatic adult Chiari
malformation Type I. Med Hypotheses. 2022 Jan;158:110740. doi:
10.1016/j.mehy.2021.110740. Epub 2021 Dec 14. PMID: 34992329; PMCID: PMC8730378.

5: Klinge PM, Srivastava V, McElroy A, Leary OP, Ahmed Z, Donahue JE, Brinker T,
De Vloo P, Gokaslan ZL. Diseased Filum Terminale as a Cause of Tethered Cord
Syndrome in Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome: Histopathology, Biomechanics, Clinical
Presentation, and Outcome of Filum Excision. World Neurosurg. 2022
Jun;162:e492-e502. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2022.03.038. Epub 2022 Mar 17. PMID:
35307588.

6: Klinge PM, McElroy A, Donahue JE, Brinker T, Gokaslan ZL, Beland MD. Abnormal
spinal cord motion at the craniocervical junction in hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos
patients. J Neurosurg Spine. 2021 May 21;35(1):18-24. doi:10.3171/2020.10.SPINE201765. PMID: 34020423.

7: Houston ML, Houston JR, Sakaie K, Klinge PM, Vorster S, Luciano M, Loth F, Allen PA.Functional connectivity abnormalities in Type I Chiari: associations with cognition and pain.
Brain Commun. 2021 Jun 14;3(3):fcab137. doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab137. eCollection 2021 Jul.