What is hydrocephalus?

One of the most terrible diagnoses thatcan be put to the fetus on ultrasound, is a dropsy of the brain, or hydrocephalus. Those who first hear this medical term immediately have questions about what hydrocephalus is and how dangerous it is for health. We tried to answer these and other questions concerning hydrocephalus in this article.

Term meaning

Hydrocephalus is a medical term formed byfrom the Greek words hydro - "water" and cephalus - "head". It is used to refer to an incurable neurological disorder that occurs with the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. Most often, hydrocephalus is diagnosed in children at an early age.

Manifestation of the disease

Spinal or cerebrospinal fluid surrounds the spinal cord and brain and performs three very important functions:

1. controls the blood flow of the brain;
2. helps to replenish nutrients in the brain and remove unnecessary substances;
3. protects the brain from tremors.

With hydrocephalus, production and absorptioncerebrospinal fluid is impaired. Because of its accumulation in certain areas, the ventricles expand, increasing pressure on the brain tissue. This negatively affects the blood supply and prevents the brain from performing its normal functions. If hydrocephalus is not treated, it can lead to a deterioration of mental activity, a decrease in the ability to learn and disrupt the coordination of movements. Typical symptoms of hydrocephalus are also increased fatigue, lethargy, blood pressure disorder, nausea, vomiting, etc.

Types of the disease

Sometimes you can hear terms such as moderate, mixed, internal and external hydrocephalus. What does it mean?

• With internal hydrocephalus, the underlying clustercerebrospinal fluid occurs in the ventricles due to the malformation of the central nervous system, due to the appearance of neoplasms in the brain, inflammatory processes, serious bruises and injuries, etc.
• With external hydrocephalus, fluid imbalance is observed not in the ventricles, but in the so-called subarachnoid space.
• With mixed hydrocephalus, the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid occurs in all parts of the brain.

Doctors often diagnose "externalreplacement hydrocephalus "and accordingly the question arises, and what is the substitution hydrocephalus? In fact, the same disease, only cerebrospinal fluid is not simply produced in larger quantities, but also replaces other cells of the brain.

Another form of external hydrocephalus, weak,but insidious is the so-called moderate hydrocephalus. To understand what is moderate hydrocephalus, it is possible with the help of medical definition: "this is an external hydrocephalus, in which there is an insignificant accumulation of fluid in the subarachnoid space. This phenomenon can remain invisible for many years, causing severe migraines and problems with blood circulation. "

Read also the article How to test the brain.