Every couple wants a healthy baby, but due to developmental abnormalities in the mother's body, some may experience hydrocephalus. Its main manifestation is the presence of a large amount of cerebrospinal fluid inside and outside the fetal ventricles, which enlarges the cranial cavity and significantly widens the fontanelle and cranial sutures. So what should we do if the fetus has hydrocephalus?
Clinical manifestations
Congenital hydrocephalus in infants and young children often begins to enlarge the head in the first few weeks after birth, and is generally gradually discovered after 3-5 months. There are also cases where the head enlarges at birth. Clinically, especially due to increased intracranial pressure, there is a progressive abnormal enlargement of the head that is disproportionate to the overall development of the body. When the sutures of infants and young children are not closed and intracranial pressure increases, the head can undergo compensatory enlargement, so the symptoms of intracranial pressure increase may not be obvious in the early stage. But when hydrocephalus is severe and progresses rapidly, it can also occur, with symptoms of repeated vomiting. Neurodegenerative changes, developmental disorders, central paralysis of the limbs, especially the lower limbs, often accompanied by intellectual changes and developmental disorders, and often accompanied by deformities in other parts of the body.
Treatment
It is divided into non-surgical treatment and surgical treatment. Generally, non-surgical treatment should be attempted for mild hydrocephalus, with dehydration therapy and systemic support therapy being the main methods. Surgical treatment is suitable for cases with high intraventricular pressure (exceeding 250mm water column) or failure of non-surgical treatment. Severe hydrocephalus, such as head circumference exceeding 50cm, cerebral cortex atrophy thickness below 1cm, and combined with severe functional impairment and deformity, may result in poor surgical outcomes.
The surgical method often uses cerebrospinal fluid diversion. Such as ventricular atrial shunt, ventricular sagittal sinus shunt, ventricular abdominal shunt, etc., the latter type of surgery is safe, has fewer complications, and is more commonly used. The shunt tube used is a device with a liquid storage bag and pressure valve, which is not transparent to X-rays for easy inspection under fluoroscopy.
Children with mild hydrocephalus can give birth smoothly. If there is severe hydrocephalus, the risk of late pregnancy is very high as the head circumference continues to increase. If born, the possibility of survival is also relatively small. So once severe hydrocephalus is detected during examination, it is necessary to listen to the advice of professional doctors, detect and treat it early.
