Normal pressure hydrocephalus: current view on pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment

Introdução: A hidrocefalia de pressão normal (HPN), descrita em 1964 por Salomón Hakim, é uma doença insidiosa que acomete, sobretudo, idosos e manifesta-se através da tríade clínica de distúrbios da marcha, demência e incontinência urinária, associada a achados radiológicos de ventriculomegalia e achados laboratoriais de pressão liquórica normal. Objetivo: apresentar as principais hipóteses relacionadas à fisiopatologia, diagnóstico por imagem e tratamento da HPN empregadas atualmente. Métodos: a revisão da literatura foi realizada através das bases de dados MEDLINE e PubMed, onde foi utilizado o recurso MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) para a seleção de artigos dos últimos seis anos. Resultados: tanto as bases fisiopatológicas quanto os critérios diagnósticos da HPN ainda não estão totalmente estabelecidos. O principal tratamento consiste na derivação liquórica. Conclusões: é fundamental que o diagnóstico da HPN seja realizado precocemente e que os pacientes com maiores chance de responder à derivação liquórica sejam identificados.Introduction: The normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), described in 1964 by Salomón Hakim, is an insidious disease that affects mainly elderly people and is manifested by the clinical triad of gait disorders, dementia and urinary incontinence associated with radiological findings of ventriculomegaly and laboratory findings of normal CSF pressure. Objective: present the main hypotheses related to the pathophysiology, imaging diagnosis and treatment of NPH in practice today. Methods: the literature review was conducted through MEDLINE and PubMed, where was used the MeSH resource (Medical Subject Headings) for the selection of articles from the last 6 years. Results: both the pathophysiology and diagnostic criteria of NPH has not been fully established. The main treatment consists of the CSF shunt. Conclusion: it is essential that the diagnosis of NPH be realized early and that patients with higher chance to improve after CSF shunt are identified

Desempenho da válvula de pressão fixa com antissifão SPHERA® no tratamento da hidrocefalia e na prevenção da ocorrência de hiperdrenagem

Patients with hydrocephalus and risk factors for overdrainage may be submitted to ventricular shunt (VS) implant with antisiphon device. The objective of this study was to prospectively evaluate for two years the clinical and tomographic results of the implant of fixed-pressure valves with antisiphon device SPHERA® in 35 adult patients, with hydrocephalus and risk factors for overdrainage. Of these, 3 had congenital hydrocephalus in adult patients with very dilated ventricles (Evans index &gt;50%), 3 had symptomatic overdrainage after previous VS implant (subdural hematoma, hygroma or slit ventricle syndrome), 1 had previous chronic subdural hematoma, 15 had normal pressure hydrocephalus with final lumbar pressure <5 cm H2O after tap test (40 mL), 6 had pseudotumor cerebri, and 7 had hydrocephalus due to other causes. Clinical improvement was observed and sustained in 94.3% of the patients during the two-year period with no computed tomography (CT) evidence of hypo or overdrainage, and no immediate early or late significant complications