View clinical trials related to Hydrocephalus.
Filter by:The treatment of hydrocephalus is the most time consuming, and arguably the most important role of the pediatric neurosurgical service at most children's' hospitals. Despite many technological advances, cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) shunting procedures remain the mainstay of hydrocephalus treatment. While often lifesaving, CSF shunting procedures are associated with high complication rates and account for a disproportionate share of health care expenditures and morbidity. Programmable CSF shunt valves, through which CSF flow and pressure can be adjusted by quick and painless transcutaneous reprogramming, have been implanted for more than 15 years in the developed world. Reprogramming these valves relies on rotational magnetic forces, which are applied by neurosurgeons and neurosurgical advanced practice providers. Inadvertent reprogramming (IR) can occur when patients with these valves are exposed to magnetic fields in the environment, which may lead to serious symptoms that may require urgent reprogramming and/or surgery. The concurrent proliferation of magnetically sensitive programmable CSF shunt valves and household items that generate substantial magnetic fields has caused concern among patients, parents and providers about the potential consequences of inadvertent valve reprogramming. This growing concern led the FDA to issue a warning to individuals with programmable valves in 2014, which deemed the programmable valves safe for use but vulnerable to IR when household devices such as tablets or cell phones are placed within 2 inches of the valve. The FDA recommended further study, stating that no systematic evaluation had been performed regarding the prevalence of accidental valve adjustments. By evaluating each of the patients with magnetically susceptible CSF shunt valves, during each of the routine points of contact with the service, investigators aim to define the prevalence of inadvertent shunt reprogramming, to correlate with the presence and absence of symptoms and radiographic changes, and to evaluate the risk of inadvertent shunt reprogramming based on exposure to common environmental items.
Hydrocephalus is a disturbance of cerebrospinal fluid production, flow and absorption leading to intracranial hypertension. Assessment of the change in intracranial pressure after ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery is important in guiding appropriate postoperative management. The optic nerve sheath diameter measured using ultrasonography has been verified as a non-invasive indicator of intracranial hypertension in various clinical studies. The investigators hypothesized that a change in optic nerve sheath diameter detected through ultrasonography could help ascertain a reduction in intracranial pressure following ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgery in adult patients without the risk of serious complications.
Patients with idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (iNPH) have variable difficulties regarding gait, balance, cognition and micturition. A shunt operation will improve these difficulties in most cases. Data suggest however, that they do not change their physical activity postoperatively. Physical training has been shown to be beneficial in patients with similar diseases i.e. Parkinson. The aim of this study is to apply a high intensity physical training program after a shunt operation to see if the patients can improve their physical capacity and ambulatory activity more than patients who only receive standardized written advice about physical training.
The objective of this pilot study is to perform a set of pressure and flow rate measurements in order to quantitatively characterize safe irrigation or "flushing" of a ventricular shunt catheter, a routine maneuver performed by a neurosurgeon during a shunt revision surgery. This maneuver involves injecting saline with a syringe to clear plugged shunt catheters. Based on data obtained in Stage I of the study, a device has been fabricated which provides the same small-volume pulse of fluid used by surgeons. In Stage II of the study, pressure and flow rate measurements generated by this specialized flusher device will be collected and measured.
This study uses frequency domain near-infrared spectroscopy coupled with diffuse correlation spectroscopy (FDNIRS-DCS) technology for monitoring cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral oxygen metabolism (CMRO2) at the bedside for newborns with germinal matrix-intraventricular hemorrhage (GM-IVH) and/or post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH) in comparison to newborns with hydrocephalus of a different etiology (VC) and healthy controls (HC). We hypothesize that baseline cerebral metabolic dysfunction is a better biomarker for GM-IVH and PHH severity and response to PHH treatment. This is a Boston Children's Hospital (BCH)-institutional review board(IRB) approved, multi-site study that includes collaboration with Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Pei-Yi Lin receives funding from The National Institute of Health (NIH) to support the study and is the overall principal Investigator (PI) overseeing the study.
We tested the hypothesis that BIS values are altered in pediatric patients with hydrocephaly. We also tested the hypothesis that BIS values are altered in adult post cerebral hemorrhage patients with hydrocephaly undergoing ventricular-peritoneal shunt placement
The investigators will quantify inflammatory biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum of children with hydrocephalus who are undergoing ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement under isoflurane anesthesia.
INPH is a chronic, progressive disease characterised by enlarged ventricles in the absence of elevated intracranial pressure. Patients often present with the Hakim triad comprising gait disturbance, dementia and urinary incontinence. Treatment consists of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunting reducing the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume in the central nervous system (CNS); a generally safe and well tolerated procedure nevertheless invasive in nature and associated with surgical risk. The currently used diagnostic algorithms to predict surgery outcome by testing patients before and after a diagnostic spinal tap temporarily reducing the CSF volume in the CNS are of wide variability and limited validity. Developing measures to accurately diagnose and select patients for intervention is thus of great importance. The objective of this study is to define and validate a diagnostic algorithm for the selection of patients with symptoms compatible with iNPH for shunt surgery.
The purpose of the study is to compare the survival time (time to first shunt failure) of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunts inserted through an anterior entry site with those inserted through a posterior entry site in children. Shunt entry site is the location on the head that the shunt catheter enters the brain on its path to the fluid-filled spaces in the brain, the ventricles. Entry sites can be anterior or posterior.
As elaborated above only one study reported ultrasonographic changes of the width of the lateral ventricle during clamping of EVD/LD and indicated that ultrasound monitoring might be suitable. No firm data exists about the change of the width of the third ventricle, the diameter of the optic nerve or brain perfusion during clamping of the EVD/LD, although the width of these structures has been shown to depend on intracranial pressure. Ultrasonographic measurements of changes of the width of the third ventricle or the diameter of the optic nerve would have some advantages compared to the ultrasonographic assessments of the lateral ventricles. First, the width of the third ventricle can be measured easier and more reliable than the width of the lateral ventricles (better defined insonation plane and therefore higher repeatability of measurements) 3. Second, whereas assessments of the width of the side and third ventricles with ultrasound depend on the temporal bone windows (10 to 15% of patients have insufficient temporal bone windows), the measurement of the diameter of the optic nerve does not have this limitation and can therefore be performed in almost all patients. Hence, measurement of the diameter of the optic nerve would allow to overcome one major limitation of transcranial ultrasound. The latter limitation for transcranial ultrasound could also be minimized by the use of an ultrasound contrast agent (SonoVue®), but this was also not yet studied. The use of an ultrasound contrast agent would in addition allow to study changes of brain perfusion during clamping of EVD/LD.