View clinical trials related to Hydrocephalus, Normal Pressure.
Filter by:The investigators hypothesize that the Q-collar compression on bilateral internal jugular veins of patients with low pressure hydrocephalus will decrease venous drainage from the intracranial space, therefore increasing intracranial volume, decreasing brain compliance, and increasing CSF drainage through the shunt. This should improve persistent hydrocephalus symptoms and demonstrate improved ventricular drainage on imaging with decompressed ventricles.
Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a neurodegenerative disease of unclear etiology characterized by a clinical trias named after the neurosurgeon Hakim. It includes cognitive impairment (dementia), gait disturbance, and urinary incontinence. These symptoms, which frequently occur in the elderly population, often overlap with the symptoms of "other" neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease and other (pre)senile dementias. To distinguishing NPH from "other" dementias is crucial in determining whether a patient will benefit from a surgical procedure (ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement) or not. At the same time, the options for assessing the patient's condition's progression and distinguishing between the progression of neurodegeneration in a broader sense or malfunction of the drainage system are very limited. Therefore, the role of a biomarker that could meet these expectations mentioned above is highly desirable.
Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) is a clinical condition that induces cognitive deterioration that can be reverted, at least in part, by introducing ventricular-peritoneal diversion controlled by a miniaturized valve system. Mechanisms involved in such an improvement of cognitive function after liquor diversion are unknown. Oxysterols are a family of cholesterol-related compounds having diverse biological functions. Among others, they are involved in cholesterol homeostasis in the brain and are detectable in liquor, potentially impacting neurodegeneration. NPH is an ideal clinical model to study oxysterol distribution in liquor before and after ventricular-peritoneal diversion.