Hydrocephalus occurs in approximately 1 in 2000 births and is associated with a signifi cant proportion of congenital malformation of the brain and spinal cord. While it is frequently diagnosed in infancy and early childhood, the complications and ramifi cations of the condition and its treatment continue through into adulthood.
Defi ning hydrocephalus is problematic, but in essence hydrocephalus can be said to be present when there is a relatively excess intracranial cerebrospinal fl uid (CSF) in the closed compartment, that is, the cranium, resulting in raised intracranial pressure and brain dysfunction. There are variations of this but the important question to ask is ‘is the intracranial pressure raised?’ Ultimately ventricular volume is a secondary issue; small ventricles do not mean that a child does not have hydrocephalus and critically raised intracranial pressure. Therefore radiological defi nitions of hydrocephalus, although useful acutely, are doomed to failure.
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Further Reading
Arnell K, Olsen L, Wester T (2006) Hydrocephalus. In P Puri, ME Höllwarth (eds) Pediatric Surgery, Springer Surgery Atlas Series. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp 419–426
Cinalli G, Maixner WJ, Sainte-Rose C (2004) Pediatric Hydrocephalus. Springer, Milan
Drake JM, Sainte-Rose C (1995) The Shunt Book. Blackwell, UK
Drake JM, Kestle JR, Milner R et al (1998) Randomised trial of cerebrospinal fl uid shunt valve design in paediatric hydro-cephalus. Neurosurgery 43(2):294–303
Hoppe-Hirsch E, Laroussinie F, Brunet L et al (1998) Late outcome of the surgical treatment of hydrocephalus. Child Nerv Syst 14(3):97–99
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Ross, J., Mallucci, C. (2009). Hydrocephalus. In: Puri, P., Höllwarth, M. (eds) Pediatric Surgery. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69560-8_80
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