Hydrocephalus Among Infants
Dropsy of the brain, or hydrocephalus in infants is excessive congestion in the ventricular system of the brain cerebrospinal fluid. The emergence of the disease state is the result of an imbalance between the body's ability to absorb and make liquor. For healthy children characteristic is that the cerebrospinal fluid can freely flow from the ventricles of the brain and also freely absorbed by other tissues. With edema of the brain is a violation of the process and fluid accumulates.
Reasons of dropsy of the brain among newborn
- infections that woman suffered during pregnancy (rubella, toxoplasmosis, tuberculosis, etc.).
- Congenital malformations of the spinal cord or brain (cysts, tumors, spina bifida anomalies of the structure).
- Chromosomal defects only in boys.
- The trauma during childbirth, which caused bleeding in the brain of the child.
- Exposure to various toxic substances.
Types of hydrocephalus
There are two main types of hydrocephalus:
- Occlusion or closed hydrocephalus, cerebrospinal fluid accumulates when due due to some obstacles that hinder its outflow.
- Open hydrocephalus. Outflow of CSF is not broken and the liquid moves freely.
The symptoms of dropsy of the brain among newborn
- head circumference is too large, which is disproportionate to the size of the rest of the body.
- Bulging fontanelle. In healthy children fontanelle delayed to year, with the disease remains open to three years.
- He, his high forehead.
- Pronounced venous network on the face.
- Graefe Syndrome (drooping of the eye).
- Lethargy and apathy.
- The tone of the extremities (lower).
- The child often throws his head back .
- Headaches in intracranial pressure.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- Developmental delay, if the child is not receiving adequate treatment.
Diagnosis and treatment of hydrocephalus among infants
during the diagnosis of hydrocephalus following methods:
- clinical indicators.
- fundus examination.
- Ultrasound examination.
- Neurosonography.
- CT.
- MRI.
Treatment of hydrocephalus in infants is mainly done with the help of surgery. At the same time, the forecast will depend on the success of the operation and its timeliness. The sooner the child will operate, the greater the chance of a full life and normal development. In most cases, surgery is performed up to 3-4 months.
The main goal of surgery is to eliminate hydrocephalus excess amounts of liquor and removal of intracranial pressure. Used for this purpose ventriculo-peritoneal shunt, during which establish a system of catheters that provide outflow of cerebrospinal fluid in the abdominal cavity, where it is absorbed honey loops of bowel.
After operative surgery, the child must be under constant supervision of parents, pediatrician, neurologist and neurosurgeon .
Conservative treatment of hydrocephalus is done in rare cases when pathology is not pronounced, and it can be removed with the help of drugs that reduce the production of cerebrospinal fluid.
