|
Shunts may require adjustment or even replacement and must be monitored by a neurosurgeon on a regular basis. Relieving excess intracranial pressure avoids the threat of continuing neurological damage, but some patients may continue to experience symptoms such as headaches, which can persist even when intracranial pressure appears normal. Neurosurgeons and neurologists in the neurodynamics laboratory at Children's Hospital Boston are actively engaged in research to more fully understand the relationships between intracranial pressure, blood flow, and the occurrence of symptoms in hydrocephalus patients, with the goal of developing consistent quantitative guidance about when each shunt system will be most effective.
From the point of diagnosis, treatment for hydrocephalus can be quite successful. Sadly, it cannot undo neurological damage that may have occurred before diagnosis. For that reason, neurosurgeons and neurologists at Children's Hospital work closely with many other medical specialists, including neuropsychiatrists, social workers, behavioral and learning specialists to help patients and their families cope with any neurological damage which might remain.
|
