Brain hydrocephalus in children is a disease that is caused by the accumulation of fluid in the subarachnoid departments and the ventricular system. The main cause of the disease is excessive fluid production or obstructed cerebrospinal fluid outflow.
Typically, such violations provoke parasitic or infectious diseases, brain tumors or adhesions in it. As a result of these pathological changes, cerebrospinal fluid accumulates and leads to noticeable changes in the skull. Brain hydrocephalus in children is usually seen with this symptom. After further examinations of children, doctors find other signs of the disease - paralysis, epileptic seizures, impaired vision, thinning of the walls of the brain. It is the thinned walls that can lead to the most serious consequence - the rupture of the ventricles.
If replacement hydrocephalus of the brain is diagnosed, then with this form the brain takes on smaller sizes than usual, and the rest of the space is replaced by cerebrospinal fluid. In this case, the enlargement of the skull may not be so noticeable.
Brain hydrocephalus in children is most often congenital. In this case, the cause of the disease lies in the intrauterine problems that accompanied at a certain stage of development of the fetus. That is why, in the early stages of pregnancy, women are tested for spinal canal fusion, which makes it possible to diagnose hydrocephalus at an early stage. If the diagnosis is clear, women are advised to terminate the pregnancy. Doctors talk about hydrocephalus in children if the head volume is half the norm.
Signs of hydrocephalus, by which you can identify a disease with mild symptoms of enlargement of the skull:
- The constant moodiness of babies, which is caused by intracranial hypertension;
- lack of normal appetite;
- inhibition of the reaction;
- marble skin color;
- overly open eyes (retraction);
- a gaze striving down.
Brain hydrocephalus in adults is acquired. The causes of such hydrocephalus can be a cyst, meningitis and other abnormalities. Symptoms of hydrocephalus in adults are more pronounced - a prolonged headache, usually in the neck and forehead, bouts of vomiting and nausea, increased intracranial pressure. Externally, hydrocephalus is manifested by slow movements, impaired coordination, weakened intelligence, impaired reflexes.
The most severe consequences of hydrocephalus are associated with fluid pressure on white matter in the human brain, after which people suffer from migraines, dementia, gait disturbances, and urinary incontinence.
Brain hydrocephalus in children, as well as in adults, is of several types, depending on the location of the fluid. It can be ventricular (internal), general and external.
In order to accurately recognize the disease, visual signs alone are not enough. Magnetic resonance imaging is usually used, the fundus is examined, and puncture of the cerebrospinal fluid is taken. To examine babies up to one and a half years old, they use neurosonography, which makes it possible to examine the brain before the fontanel is infected.
Treatment of hydrocephalus is possible only surgically. Any medications do not cure the disease, but only reduce intracranial pressure and slow down the progression of the disease. Radical methods help in most cases. With the help of surgical intervention, it is possible to establish the outflow of fluid from the brain. Relapses of the disease are very few.
Congenital forms of hydrocephalus require more thorough treatment. If surgery is urgently needed, a gentle intervention is performed using an endoscope.