hydrocephalus

, hydrocephaly

accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid within the ventricles of the brain because its normal outlet has been blocked by congenital malformation or disease. In infancy it usually results in great enlargement of the head

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Hydrocephalus

edema of the brain, an excessive increase in the amount of cerebrospinal fluid in the cranial cavity.

The cause of hydrocephalus is either excessive production of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain or obstruction of its efflux from the ventricles of the brain, as a result of inflammatory processes, tumors, or other diseases leading to closing of the apertures through which the fluid escapes from the ventricles. Congenital hydrocephalus is caused by congenital syphilis and toxoplasmosis; acquired hydrocephalus originates (usually in early childhood) after meningitides, menin-goencephalitides, head traumas, intoxications, and other afflictions. The most common symptom of hydrocephalus in children is an enlarged skull. In places where the bones of the skull did not knit normally, rounded, pulsating protrusions may form. Frequently there is strabismus and nystagmus. Sometimes a reduction of vision and hearing, headaches, and nausea are observed. Intelligence is diminished. Treatment of hydrocephalus calls for the removal of the cause, sometimes by surgery. It can be prevented by the elimination of conditions injurious to the mother during pregnancy and the prevention of neuroinfections during childhood.

REFERENCE

Arendt, A. A. Gidrotsefaliia i ee khirurgicheskoe lechenie. Moscow,1948.

V. S. ROTENBERG

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Kalyvas et al analysed 13 studies to evaluate various environmental risk factors in development of congenital hydrocephalus and reported lack of prenatal care and low socioeconomic status were significantly associated with the condition.

CONGENITAL HYDROCEPHALUS-AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF MATERNAL CHARACTERISTICS IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE

Another issue of discussion is the order of operations in cases of coincidence of myelomeningocele and hydrocephalus. Sac repair is suggested to be performed in the first 36 hours; some studies have suggested that a shunt should be placed in a second operation, while some studies have demonstrated that the risk of ventriculitis and shunt infection decreases in cases in which sac repair and VP shunt placement is performed in the same operation (2, 7, 8).

Thoracic Myelomeningocele with Hydrocephalus And Chiari Type 2 Malformation: A Case Report/Hidrosefali ve Chiari Tip 2 Malformasyonunun Eslik Ettigi Torakal Myelomeningosel: Olgu Sunumu

Caption: Figure 2: (a) Axial T2WI images: a well-defined, round, isointense lesion to the gray matter at the level of the foramen of Monro causing moderate acute hydrocephalus. (b, c) FlAIR and T1WI: the lesion is hyperintense relative to brain parenchyma.

CT and MRI Features of Pediatric-Aged Colloid Cysts: Report of Two Cases

'We hold a special clinic for patients suffering from hydrocephalus and spina bifida condition every week.

Saving Baby Joshua: Mother's search for brain swelling cure

First, we evaluated hydrocephalus. According to our data, 88.5% (85/96) of the patients suffered from hydrocephalus before surgery.

Clinical Features and Prognostic Risk Factors of Choroid Plexus Tumors in Children

"We have also come across lots of lovely medical staff who want training in the field of hydrocephalus, but as the NHS's piggy bank is empty, they simply can't.

Meet the Bagshot couple founding charity after baby son diagnosed with a rare brain condition; Caroline Thwaites and Matt Coates want to fund research into hydrocephalus, which led their son Harry to need four surgeries in his first year of life

Shunt procedures can address pressure on the brain caused by hydrocephalus and relieve its symptoms -- including gait difficulty, mild dementia and lack of bladder control.

Defying the Odds: Succeeding academically while battling hydrocephalus

The past half-century has seen tremendous advances in the management of pediatric hydrocephalus. From treatments based on transillumination of the infant head in dark closets and pneumoencephalograms in the 1960s to endoscopic and image-guided surgery in the present day, neurosurgical procedures to treat hydrocephalus are safer and more effective than ever before.

Reflections on 50 Years of Pediatric Neuroscience Nursing

Limited data exists in literature describing the use of ventriculoperitoneal shunt or endoscopic third ventriculostomy as a CSF diversion method for obstructive hydrocephalus.2-5 Reports are also present on communicating hydrocephalus in the setting of leptomeningeal disease and high grade gliomas.4-7 Lumboperitoneal shunting has also been described.8

Role of palliative CSF diversion in patients with intracranial metastatic disease and symptomatic hydrocephalus

data, it can be understood that awareness of these complications as well as identifying signs of hydrocephalus in brain scans constitute critical points for physicians (1).

Temporal Horns: Balance Coils of Ventricular System in Acute Obstructive Hydrocephalus?/Temporal Hornlar: Akut Tikayici Hidrosefalide Ventrikuler Sistemin Balans Bobinleri?