ICP (intracranial pressure) is the pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid (fluid that is located in the ventricles of the brain, as well as in the canal of the spinal cord and between the spinal cord and brain, cranial and spinal bones). Liquor is also called cerebrospinal fluid. It is constantly updated.
Periodically, all people have an increase in ICP. Stress, physical stress - all this contributes to a temporary increase in ICP. Symptoms are different for everyone. Someone is dizzy, someone is sick, etc.
The increase in ICP is caused by various reasons. In infants, this may be due to hypoxia during pregnancy and childbirth, tumors, early closure of the fontanel, injuries and past brain diseases (e.g., meningitis). Hence the conclusion - increased ICP is not an independent disease, but just a symptom of another, more serious disease.
How to find out what the baby has ICP ? Symptoms
If the baby’s head grows too fast, he refuses to drink some water, often rolls his eyes, moving them down a lot (a symptom of “Gref” or the setting sun), often spits up and sometimes vomits, mows his eyes, cranial sutures and protrude fontanel - all these are signs of ICP in infants.
Older children complain of headaches, they quickly become tired, sometimes vomiting occurs and mood often changes, they are prone to convulsions. In such children, developmental delay and strabismus are often observed, they cannot concentrate, are restless. Sleep disturbance and hyperactivity are not symptoms of ICP! Excitability, frequent crying, sleep disturbance more often are signs of completely different diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to show such a child to a neurologist.
How are ICP symptoms diagnosed in children? An ultrasound scan (neurosonography) is done to infants through the fontanel, if it has not yet closed. This is an absolutely safe diagnostic method that allows you to check the condition of the ventricles of the brain and cerebrospinal fluid. Children with a closed fontanel do computed tomography and examine the fundus. Often, it is the optometrist who identifies the symptoms of ICP, he will notice swelling of the optic nerves, indicating increased ICP. A CT scan of the brain should be done only if there are serious problems and suspicions, because this diagnostic method is not so harmless. ICP is also determined with the help of ECHO-EG (echo-encephalogram of the brain), but it is less accurate, but almost harmless. When conducting ECHO-EG, the child is not exposed to radiation.
How is ICF treated? Symptoms that speak of the disease can disappear when the baby reaches six months, because babies have huge resources for self-healing of the body, compared with adults. They need an open fontanel precisely to combat jumps of the ICP, and the sutures of the skull slightly reduce the cerebrospinal fluid pressure. In order to remove excess fluid from the brain, diuretics are prescribed. Individual treatment, children are prescribed medication, nutrition and blood circulation of the brain. Well helps massage, acupuncture, physiotherapy and physiotherapy.
Only a highly qualified specialist can prescribe ICP treatment and choose diuretic and vascular drugs. Self-medication is strictly impossible, because very often it is necessary to treat not the ICP itself, but the disease that provokes its increase. Untimely treatment of congenital diseases such as encephalopathy, hydrocephalus or a brain tumor can lead to very bad consequences. Any pathology of the brain in a newborn child requires strictly professional treatment. And the sooner the disease is detected, the more effective the treatment will be.