Hydrocephalus is generally accepted to occur in 1 out of every 5000 live births. I don't know if they keep statistics on how often it happens as a result of TBI, or what the statistics are for NPH (a form of hydrocephalus which occurs in older people). In the US, that works out to around 68,000 cases of congenital hydrocephalus every year. The population of Houston is around 4 million ppl, which means there are maybe 58 other cases besides me living here right now. So yes, I'd agree with you that it's "quite rare".
There's another accepted treatment for hydrocephalus called endoscopic third ventriculostomy, or ETV. A hole is punctured into the floor of the third ventricle, allowing the excess fluid to recirculate that way. The problem with this treatment is that it's very easy for scar tissue to form back over the hole. It's also generally only successful in pediatric patients--the older you get, the thicker the membrane becomes, making it harder to do the initial ETV and easier for scar tissue to form.
It's also not uncommon for hydrocephalic patients to have more than one working shunt in place at one time. I've only needed one, although I've had 17 separate surgeries. The last two were a week apart, in July '04.
Until e-meeting you, the only thing I'd read of hydrocephalus was that it can be a symptom of toxoplasmosis. One of the classic 'shock' photos that people use to illustrate books and so on, shows a baby with hydrocephalus attributed to that infection. As you know my PhD wasn't about human disease so I never tried to find out who that baby was or how the story went. I used photos of lambs killed by toxoplasmosis, sometimes, but I find that it's not always helpful to emphasise the 'shock' side of my science.
Thank you for telling me about human congenital hydrocephalus. I'm not a biomedical scientist so I won't be following it up. Unless I decide to write a popular-science article about it... what do you think of that idea?
Oh thank you! It means a lot to me, as you know, that people believe in me as a science writer. If I do write about hydrocephalus I hope you'll agree to give your opinions.
I'm very pleased and flattered that you value my opinion enough to ask. I'll be more than happy to share my knowledge with you, should you ever decide to write a paper about hydrocephalus.
There's another accepted treatment for hydrocephalus called endoscopic third ventriculostomy, or ETV. A hole is punctured into the floor of the third ventricle, allowing the excess fluid to recirculate that way. The problem with this treatment is that it's very easy for scar tissue to form back over the hole. It's also generally only successful in pediatric patients--the older you get, the thicker the membrane becomes, making it harder to do the initial ETV and easier for scar tissue to form.
It's also not uncommon for hydrocephalic patients to have more than one working shunt in place at one time. I've only needed one, although I've had 17 separate surgeries. The last two were a week apart, in July '04.
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Thank you for telling me about human congenital hydrocephalus. I'm not a biomedical scientist so I won't be following it up. Unless I decide to write a popular-science article about it... what do you think of that idea?
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:-D
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:-)
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