Rethinking Treatment Options for Hydrocephalus
October 1, 2005
Hydrocephalus: it’s the single most common clinical problem faced by pediatric neurosurgeons and occurs once in every 1,000 live births.
It’s estimated that $1 billion are spent in the United States each year on hydrocephalus- related procedures.
Yet not much has changed in the treatment of hydrocephalus — the abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the brain’s four ventricles — since the late 1960s, when reliable ventricular shunts were developed.
We’re asking “how can we treat patients in a less invasive manner?
~ Dr. Anthony Avellino
Children’s neurosurgery team is working to change that.
“Shunts are a treatment, not a cure,” says Children’s neurosurgeon Dr. Anthony Avellino.
“Though effective, shunting must continue throughout the life of the patient, and result in painful complications such as infection and malfunction about 8-15 percent of the time.
At Children’s we’re asking ‘how can we treat patients in a less invasive manner, and possibly cure hydrocephalus?’
Clinical and Research Innovation
The two primary causes of hydrocephalus are overproduction of CSF and blockages within the brain’s ventricular system.
Children’s neurosurgery team uses endoscopic surgery to treat many blockages. Research is underway to find new treatments for hydrocephalus caused by overproduction of CSF.
Dr. Avellino and his research team think that proteins within CSF may be the key.
“Mass spectrometry machines have enabled us to identify thousands of proteins within CSF. Analyzing and comparing the proteins in the CSF of patients who have hydrocephalus with those who don’t have may enable us to balance the proteins in the brain fluid and stop overproduction.”
Because they perform approximately 200 shunt-related procedures each year — more than any other practice in the Northwest — Children’s neurosurgeons have unique access to fluid needed for this research.
“Until we find a cure, hydrocephalus is a life-long condition that causes a lot of emotional turmoil for patients and their families,” says Dr. Avellino. “The possibility that the shunt could break or get infected is always a reality.”
Learn More
- To help families cope with this condition, Children’s is hosting the Children’s Hydrocephalus Support Group, a newly created group of parents and professionals.
- Visit the Neurosurgery Web site