Intracranial pressure behaviour and its relation to the outcome of surgical CSF shunting in normotensive hydrocephalus.
Twenty-four patients with suspected normotensive hydrocephalus were surgically treated by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) ventriculoatrial or peritoneal shunt. The results of surgery were considered in relation to clinical history and different diagnostic examinations: pneumoencephalography, CT scan, isotope cisternography, transfer from CSF to blood of isotope-labelled serum albumin, constant infusion manometric test, intraventricular pressure recording. Intracranial pressure (ICP) was analysed during both resting conditions and spontaneously (REM phase of sleep) or artificially induced (jugular compression) increases. The ventricular enlargement (as shown by CT scan) and the slope of the intracranial elastance (the ratio of the differences between the maximum and minimum values of pulse ICP and the correspondent values of the diastolic ICP under the same dynamic conditions) provided the most reliable data for diagnosis and surgical prognosis.
D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts; D006325:Heart Atria; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000601:surgery*; D006850:Hydrocephalus, Normal Pressure / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D007427:Intracranial Pressure; D010529:Peritoneal Cavity; D011859:Radiography