Leptomeningeal pathology systematic review protocol v.16 final 7/23/2021

This prospective PRISMA systematic review with modified e-Delphi [SR] started with a focus on harm [arachnoiditis] caused by multiple types of spinal interventions, mostly spinal surgery. Preclinical studies were included in the searches to inform future directions. Global social media groups with >15K patients with the diagnosis express disdain towards doctors for being harmed and then abandoned—disabled, with intractable neuropathic pain, and no known therapy. The protocol was amended, additional searches added when collected 63 terms for the same area of pathology, and the SR expanded to diseases of the leptomeninges. This incomparable partnership between physician-scientist-patients and multiple neurosurgeons generates answers, exposes disparities, and results in an unanticipated conclusion.