title: From congenital to idiopathic adult hydrocephalus: a historical research.
abstract: Reports of idiopathic adult hydrocephalus prior to the 1965 description of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus by Salomón Hakim and Raymond Adams are lacking in the literature. Congenital paediatric and congenital adult hydrocephalus were considered to trace the early descriptions of idiopathic adult hydrocephalus. Through traditional or digital libraries and internet search engines, the historical sources dealing with idiopathic adult hydrocephalus were explored. The research shows that many distinguished physicians through the centuries have contributed to the discovery of idiopathic adult hydrocephalus. Early descriptions of the disorder were related to autopsy studies in the 18th and 19th centuries. From the second half of the 1800s, idiopathic adult hydrocephalus appeared to have been forgotten in the medical literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Sciences, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Sapienza, University of Rome, 00161, Italy. missorp@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Missori
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paolini
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Currà
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000266:history* / Q000473:pathology; D008512:Medicine in the Arts; D008875:Middle Aged; D012886:Skull / Q000473:pathology