hydrocephalus

my bro implied maybe i should say s/thing about medical stuff a bit, n since my memory still fresh after attending the synapse course, i'll talk abit on hydrocephalus.

Hydrocephalus literally means (in Greek) 'water+head'. n sometimes u may heard ppl having babies with big head, with lots of water inside. in medical terms, it means active distension of ventricles in the brain with collection of CSF inside. ventricles are spaces inside the brain which are important for good flow and drainage of brain fluid. CSF stands cerebrospinal fluid, means brain fluid which is comminucated into down the spine via the ventricles and blood vessels. all normal ppl have normal size of these spaces. we have place inside the brain that produce this brain fluid and we have natural perfect drainage system to drain them outside the narrow place of our skull into our blood vessel eventually.

what can happen is a number of events can take place and cause this drainage system goes wrong. either the development of the brain during fetus is not normal, infection or tumor inside the brain cause obstruction to happen and therefore the brain fluid was kept producing but not drained adequately. with no else where to go, the spaces inside the brain (ventricles) will be dilated (swollen, distended, etc) so therefore the term ' water inside the head'. Neurosurgical experts will further grade the condition into truely obstructing or communicating hydrocephalus. but generally, babies with hydrocephalus need to be treated with, most if not all, surgical intervention. we will try to identify and remove the cause if possible. if the hydrocephalus is mild and the brain was not being compressed, we can monitor and see first. if the cause cannot be removed, then we aim to divert the brain fluid flow away to some other place where it can be drained properly. n hence u heard ppl doing 'shunts' or 'tube' or 'pipe' inside the head.

some of the important questions ppl concern: will my baby intelligent? function impaired? able to walk? etc etc. this really depend on the condition of the brain when we saw the film and examine the babies. IQ may be affected, movement may also be questionable if part of the brain being compressed is related to that function, life span of the babies affected vary depending on what events they undergo later (eg: surgery, disease, infection, long hospital stay, rehabilitation program etc etc...) but hey, nothing in medical is for sure and there's no 100% accurate answer. we have example of a child who had a shunt inserted for hydrocephalus going to normal school and score in academy. provided with background of our society, i think no parents would give up on their children who has hydrocephalus. what is important is we need close follow up with these patients and provide support as needed.