Pathophysiology of hydrocephalus

Abstract

The origin of the word “hydrocephalus” is Greek. Its literal translation being “water in the head” comes from the words: “hydro,” meaning water, and “cephalus,” meaning head. Hydrocephalus is a multifactorial disorder. Primary mechanisms consist largely of developmental disorders that cause congenital pathologies such as intraventricular, subarachnoid, and intraparenchymal hemorrhage, meningitis and other infections, and tumors. Various secondary mechanisms include axonal damage, demyelination, cell death, gliosis and inflammation, biomechanical compression and stretch, edema, metabolic impairment, cerebrovascular effects and hypoxia-ischemia, synaptic and dendritic deterioration, neurotrophic changes, alterations of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, and impaired clearance of toxins and metabolites. Often these secondary mechanisms overlap, making it difficult if not impossible to define the precise role of each.