Introduction
The term "hydrocephalus" refers to a pathological accumulation of liquor under-voltage, inside cerebral ventricles and / or meninges. When not treated early, hydrocephalus can trigger a series of catastrophic events until death.
The objective of this article is to provide a comprehensive and concise reading of symptoms and complications associated with hydrocephalus. As reported, we will understand how the prevention of hydrocephalus or its complications is essential to safeguard - or improve - the quality of life of the affected patient.
Severity of symptoms
The severity of the symptoms that characterize hydrocephalus is related to three important factors:
- Age: Infants with hydrocephalus, up to two years of age, tolerate a possible increase in intracranial pressure rather than older children or adults. In fact, the cranial bones of very young children are not completely welded, therefore they allow the skull to expand without causing particularly serious damage. Vice versa, in the adult the cranial bone sutures are well welded, therefore the skull is almost inextensible: from what has been said we understand how every possible volumetric increase of the brain components translates into intracranial hypertension, therefore in hydrocephalus.
- Brain damage: the greater the damage suffered by the brain, the greater the severity of the symptoms
- Cause that causes the accumulation of liquor
- Location where liquor is collected
Hydrocephalus in the newborn, in the child and in the adult
In the BABY AND BABY (up to 2 years), the most common signs of hydrocephalus are:
- Rapid increase in head circumference: one of the distinctive signs of neonatal hydrocephalus or early childhood
- Seizures
- Convulsions
- Difficulty sucking or eating
- Deviation of the eyes downwards (a particular condition also known as "eyeballs with a setting sun")
- Neck pain
- lack of appetite
- Abnormal macrocrania: it is a cranial malformation characterized by an abnormal increase in the size of the skull in relation to the face. In this condition, the head circumference is greater than the 97th percentile
- Marked changes in mood: the child can be calm, and moments later can become extremely nervous. Marked irritability can result in lethargy over a short period
- Obesity
- Early puberty
- Tension of the fontanelle (meeting points of the sutures, membranes that cover the cranial bones)
- He retched
When no action is taken promptly, the clinical picture of the patient suffering from hydrocephalus can collapse, evolving in a negative sense, up to compromising brain function:
- Disturbance of walking
- Severe weight loss
- Papilledema: the increase in intracranial pressure typical of hydrocephalus triggers an abnormal swelling of the ganglion fibers in the papilla, between the optic nerve and the eye
- Paralysis of the cranial nerves
- Delay in the development of cognitive abilities
- Delay of psychic development
In the BIGGEST CHILD AND IN THE ADULT, hydrocephalus can cause more or less marked symptoms:
- Alteration of vision (blurred vision, double vision)
- Alterations in memory capacity
- Mood alteration / irritability
- Walking impairment: the difficulty of walking is a possible sign of hydrocephalus in the elderly. It is, in fact, an anticipatory symptom, which tends to arise months or even years before the other prodromes.
- Cognitive impairment
- Dementia
- Cognitive impairment: this symptom is common to many forms of hydrocephalus in the elderly. The loss of cognitive abilities of hydrocephalus can easily be confused with other pathological forms typical of the senile age.
- Difficulty maintaining balance
- Temperature
- Lethargy
- Headache
- Loss of control of anal and bladder sphincters (fecal and urinary incontinence)
- Growth delay
- Poor coordination
- Parkinson-like symptoms
- Muscle spasms
- Sharp shrill (in the child)
- Variation in the distance between one eye and another
- Change in the appearance of the face
Complications
In addition to varying widely from subject to subject, hydrocephalus complications are rather difficult to predict.
For example, if hydrocephalus occurs already at birth, most likely the small patient is destined to become an intellectually and structurally disabled adult. However, if treated accurately, some patients with neonatal hydrocephalus may develop fewer complications in adulthood.
Adults who have undergone a significant and rapid decline in memory and thinking skills generally have a slower recovery and, more often than not, symptoms persist even after hydrocephalus treatment.
It is observed that the severity of the complications of this pathology depends on the type of initial symptoms, the underlying cause and the timeliness of diagnosis and treatment for the treatment of hydrocephalus.
