English to Russian Medical Medical (general) Medical Handbook (Infant Neurology)

Hydrocephalus
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The longstanding division of hydrocephalus into 'communicating' and 'non-communicating' refers to communication between the CSF spaces within the brain and those on the outside of the brain and spinal cord. This is useful in that cases of non-communicating hydrocephalus are likely to have a pressure gradient between the head and spine and so it is therefore relatively less safe to treat these patients with therapeutic lumbar puncture than those with communicating hydrocephalus. Compared with later infancy, these risks are smaller in the early months because of the tendency for intracranial volume to increase with intracranial pressure and thus reduce any pressure gradient. In general such risks are greatest with rapid changes in pressure, such as rare instances of cerebral arterial haemorrhage in the posterior fossa, acute cerebellitis or fulminant bacterial meningitis.

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