Hydrocephalus/Water HeadBy: Hunter Murray

CAUSESHydrocephalus is due to a problem with the flow of the

fluid that surrounds the brain. This fluid is called the cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF. It surrounds the brain and spinal cord, and helps cushion the brain.

CSF normally moves through the brain and the spinal cord, and is soaked into the bloodstream. CSF levels in the brain can rise if:

•The flow of CSF is blocked

• It does not get absorbed into the blood properly

•Your brain makes too much of itToo much CSF puts puts pressure on the brain. This

pushes the brain up against the skull and damage brain tissue

Target Population

Babies are the most common humans to get this disease because it usually occurs in the development process.It affects 1 in every 500 people.

Symptons

In infants with hydrocephalus, it causes the fontanelle (soft spot) to bulge and the head to be larger than expected. Early symptoms may also include:

Eyes that appear to gaze downward,Irritability,Seizures,Separated sutures,Sleepiness,Vomiting

Symptoms that may occur in older children can include:Brief, shrill, high-pitched cry,Changes in personality, memory, or the

ability to reason or think,Changes in facial appearance and eye spacing,Crossed eyes or uncontrolled eye movements,Difficulty feeding,Excessive sleepiness,Headache Irritability, poor temper control,Loss of bladder control Loss of coordination and trouble walking,Muscle spasm,Slow growth, Slow or restricted movement,Vomiting

Prognosis

Without treatment, up to 6 in 10 people with hydrocephalus will die. Those

who survive have different amounts of intellectual, physical, and neurological

disabilities.The outlook depends on the cause. Hydrocephalus that is not due to

an infection has the best outlook. People with hydrocephalus caused by tumors

usually do very poorly.Most children with hydrocephalus that survive for 1 year

will have a fairly normal life span.

Treatment of Hydrocephalus

The most common treatment for hydrocephalus—and the most common procedure performed by pediatric neurosurgeons in the United States—is surgical implantation of a device called a shunt. A flexible tube and valve system, a shunt drains cerebrospinal fluid from the brain to another part of the body.

While there is no known cure, there are two forms of surgical treatment currently used to treat hydrocephalus. In the last 50 years, there have been advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of hydrocephalus, however, long term health outcomes for individuals with hydrocephalus remain unpredictable. Often repeated neurosurgical operations are necessary to treat hydrocephalus. It also is important to recognize when treatment is failing and to stay current with doctors and developments even when things are going well.

Famous Person with HydrocephalusBilly Graham was diagnosed with normal pressure

hydrocephalus in 1992,but it still hasn't been well known in the 2 decades since.His shunt wasn't placed for several years,but when it was it helped with the symptoms of his Parkinson's.It was another several years before he had to have a revision in 2008.Since then he's continued to have health problems,but that's normal for someone his age.

Hospitals/DoctorsSixty years ago, Boston Children's Hospital became the

first hospital in the world to treat children with hydrocephalus by rerouting excess fluid from the brain into another body cavity. In the next few years,, physicians in Boston Children's Hydrocephalus Program have designed and tested the next generation of shunting devices, including the externally programmable shunt ,helped refine the use of minimally surgical techniques to more effectively treat hydrocephalus while minimizing stress and shortening the aftercare process for patients. The head of this hospitals team is Benjamin Warf.

Work Cited

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

WWW.ninds.nih.govWWW.Childrenshospital.org