At times, the CSF flow system can occasionally go awry. Hydrocephalus (“hydro” meaning water and “cephalus” meaning head) is a medical condition that describes excessive accumulation of CSF in the brain. As a result, the ventricles widen, and the excessive CSF pushes out onto the brain tissue. This increased pressure essentially compresses the brain like flattening a pancake.
Hydrocephalus can occur in both children and adults. In babies, hydrocephalus often presents itself in the form of an unusually large head. The applied pressure expands the skull since the joints that connect the bones of the skull are not yet closed. With early diagnosis and treatment, infants with hydrocephalus can grow up to live relatively healthy lives.
Hydrocephalus is treated by installing a shunt system to drain the CSF out of the brain and move it into the abdominal cavity. Hydrocephalus can also occur after birth and is often caused by traumas such as strokes and infections.
If left untreated, hydrocephalus can permanently damage the brain, disrupting mental functions. This, in turn, can result in thinking and memory problems. In infants, untreated hydrocephalus can also lead to early death. This should not be surprising because no brain would like being compressed.
Despite the fact that hydrocephalus damages the brain, doctors from Johns Hopkins Hospital recently published an astonishing case study in the medical journal Lancet documenting a 62-year-old woman with normal mental function despite chronic hydrocephalus.
As reported in the case study, the woman came to the hospital after her family found her passed out on the floor. The woman was examined and found to have altered mental function characterized by a confused conscious state. Following a brain scan at the hospital, doctors found hydrocephalus in her brain. Believing the hydrocephalus to be acute and the cause of her altered mental function, the doctors attempted to initiate treatment by putting in a CSF drain.
Yet, despite the hydrocephalus observed in the brain scan images, the doctors discovered the pressure inside her skull was normal, and they removed the drain after two days. The doctors then made the diagnosis of a blood infection due to pneumonia. Following treatments with antibiotics, the woman’s mental state returned to normal, leading them to conclude the infection rather than hydrocephalus was responsible for disrupting her brain function.
Given that the pressure inside the woman’s skull was normal (even slightly below) and that her medical history was normal, the Hopkins medical team concluded her hydrocephalus likely had been present since birth. So far, this is the first documented case in which an individual has been able to retain normal brain function despite a compressed brain due to hydrocephalus. The woman in this case study still managed to function despite significant compression, highlighting the incredible plasticity of the brain.
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