The Diagnosis

Diagnosing Hydrocephalus and determining the cause

This post is going to talk about how hydrocephalus is diagnosed. I have already posted a couple pictures and one included a CT scan which is a very common diagnostic tool. Others that can be done are an MRI or ultrasoundography. 

[1] MRI from the American Academy of Neurology

Neuroligsts are pretty smart and when they get images of the infant's brain they can tell what structures may be causing the issue. Things like it's origin and possible methods of treatment can be determined now too. (But we will discuss treatment in another post) 

In adults and children early signs are changes in neurological function but neonates do not have these signs due to their developmental stage. Signs that can be looked for in neonates though is bulging or taut fontaneles (the space between the skull bones) and distended cranial veins. (Christiansen, C. 2002) This article I will be linking at the bottom of this post is a bit old from an academic standpoint but it is quite up to date on aspects of HC and actually has a a good composition of a lot of the information I have written about earlier. It is somewhat disappointing that I did not find it sooner in my research, but I give it to you now as a gift. 

In adults a spinal tap can be performed as well to measure the severity of the increased ICP, but this is far harder and very risky to assess in neonates. 

That raps up this post. Next post we ill dive a bit deeper into what the patient will experience as symptoms and the signs we can be alert for as parents and medical professionals to be alert to changes that might be indicative of impending complications. 

1 http://www.neurology.org/content/74/21/1746/F1.expansion.html

Christiansen, C. (2002). Understanding Hydrocephalus. Physician assistant journal. 26 (12) pp 30-36. retrieved from: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.georgefox.idm.oclc.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7ea8b6e3-a083-4453-81e4-6214618232cb%40sessionmgr4002&vid=0&hid=4114