The diagnosis of syringomyelia is easily confirmed by MRI but neurologists have yet to define what is meant by the term 'clear' given that most cavaliers have a degree of skull malformation. The late onset of clinical signs and the number of asymptomatic dogs adds to the complexity of the condition. Not enough is known about long term progression to ascertain the optimum age young dogs should be screened for the disease. The research is an evolving process and hopefully a proven accurate and UNIVERSAL scheme will be developed eventually. Recent studies suggests that in the vast majority of cases the syrinx starts in the upper cervical spinal cord so if this is included then scanning of the entire cord (more expensive) may not ultimately be necessary. Any 'normal' dog without the occipital malformation which makes the skull small has a genetic advantage and should be used for breeding.

The following breeding recommendations were derived at the International Conference held in November 2006 and are made using current information and in response to breeder requests for guidelines. It has yet to be proven if this guide is appropriate. The aim of these recommendations is to reduce the incidence of symptomatic syringomyelia in the breed not to create litters of puppies guaranteed not to have SM as the chance of producing an affected dog cannot be predicted without knowing the inheritance. It is recommended that the offspring of any mating is also MRI screened before breeding. As the incidence of syringomyelia is so high in the breed there will be severe depletion of the gene pool if only clear dogs are used (i.e. other problems will develop). Therefore until the genetic defect is determined it is recommended that dogs with syringomyelia be used if they are valuable in another genetic sense e.g. good heart. The general principle of these guidelines is that dogs with code A are more desirable to use than B, etc but that dogs with a higher letter code may still be used in some limited circumstances.