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Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

How is it diagnosed?

Tests for Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus include having a lumbar puncture to see if this improves the walking and memory faculties. Often patients will have a timed walking test whereby they walk a set difference, have some CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) taken off, and then have a further walking test. If the second test shows an improvement following the lumbar puncture this is an indication that they may benefit from having a shunt. Other authorities suggest continuous CSF pressure monitoring which involves infusions and measuring whether there are any pressure changes within the cerebro-spinal fluid demonstrating the resistance within the system. If patients are found to have high resistance then they are thought to respond better to shunts than those without them. The scans must show Hydrocephalus (enlarged ventricles) but without any evidence of any other cause.

View What are the causes? What are the causes?  |  How is it treated?  View How is it treated? 

Medical text written September 2004 by Mr Neil Buxton, Consultant Paediatric Neurosurgeon, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, UK.

 

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