NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Normal pressure hydrocephalus is a condition that experts say is often overlooked as just part of the aging process or misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s. But for some patients, if it’s caught and treated, symptoms of the condition can be lessened or reversed. Now, for the first time in the United States, surgeons are testing a minimally invasive procedure to determine if they can safely treat NPH.
It’s a tricky condition that mimics Alzheimer’s, but NPH patients have three telltale symptoms: unsteady gait, memory loss, and frequent urination.
Yale School of Medicine neurosurgeon, Dr. Charles Matouk, MD says, “There’s a series of appropriate investigations that can take place so that you’re not missing an opportunity to help.”
Doctors confirm NPH with a spinal tap, then for some patients, surgeons insert a shunt into the brain to drain excess fluid, but that requires invasive surgery as surgeons drill into the brain.
“Even though many patients will significantly improve after a shunt, and it produces a meaningful improvement in their quality of life, there’s also a significant number of people that have a complication,” Dr. Matouk explains.
Dr, Matouk is part of the first medical team in the U.S. to test a minimally invasive procedure to drain fluid, called an eShunt. Instead of going through the brain, surgeons insert a catheter through a small puncture hole in the leg and work inside the vein to reach the brain.
“That connects this pocket of fluid at the base of your brain into the vein, the internal jugular vein in your neck,” Dr. Matouk adds.
The procedure allows for an easier connection for patients and allows the body to absorb the fluid and return to normal function.
Dr. Matouk is part of a Boston-based team testing the eShunt on 10 patients. An international team is also performing this procedure in Argentina. Dr. Matouk says after researchers see the results of surgery from the small sample of patients, the next step would be a larger, pivotal clinical trial.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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Source:
Charles Matouk, MD, Neurosurgeon, Yale School of Medicine
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: eSHUNT: MINIMALLY INVASIVE SURGERY FOR NPH
REPORT: MB #5174
BACKGROUND: Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain’s ventricles, or cavities. It occurs if the normal flow of CSF throughout the brain and spinal cord is blocked in some way. This causes the ventricles to enlarge, putting pressure on the brain. Normal pressure hydrocephalus can occur in people of any age, but it is most common in the elderly. It may result from a subarachnoid hemorrhage, head trauma, infection, tumor, or complications of surgery. Normal pressure hydrocephalus primarily affects people in their 60s and 70s. The Hydrocephalus Association estimates that nearly 700,000 adults have normal pressure hydrocephalus, but it is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. In fact, less than 20 percent of people with the disease are properly diagnosed.
DIAGNOSING: Some symptoms of normal pressure hydrocephalus include, but are not limited to: poor balance, mood changes, depression, forgetfulness and confusion, and loss of bladder control. To diagnosis NPH, your health care providers may need to perform a series of tests that include: physical exam, evaluation of the way you walk, CT or MRI scans of your brain, or a spinal tap.
NEW TECHNOLOGY: A Yale Medicine neurosurgeon is using a minimally invasive technique to treat this condition, which occurs when too much CSF accumulates in the brain leading to a host of problems, including trouble walking and memory loss. The treatment is available through a Phase 1 clinical trial of an implant called the eShunt System from CereVasc, a medical device company. With this minimally invasive approach, the eShunt is implanted between a vein in the neck and the base of the skull. This allows CSF to drain into the venous system, or the blood, where it is reabsorbed, explains Charles Matouk, MD, chief of Neurovascular Surgery, and the first U.S. surgeon to perform the procedure, which was done at Yale New Haven Hospital.
(Source: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/new-treatment-normal-pressure-hydrocephalus)
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Colleen Moriarty
(203) 376-4237
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