Hydrocephalus in children: Treatable if taking advantage of

86% of children with neural tube defects will experience hydrocephalus. This is a disease that leaves many sequelae and mental retardation if treatment is delayed. However, the disease can be prevented and treated if it takes advantage of 'golden time' .

Leave many sequelae

The patient, Wen Yong Hang (7 years old, Ho Chi Minh City), had surgery to put the fluid into the abdomen on the 29th May at Children's Hospital 1 (Photo: L.TH.H) May 31 at the Hospital Children Hospital (BV) Children 1, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bo Bo - mother of the baby Wen Yong Hang (7 years old, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) - said that at the beginning of the second month of the year, she started to grow up. She took her son to Cho Ray Hospital for examination.

Doctors said he had to be hospitalized for surgery at a cost of more than VND 20 million. Due to difficult circumstances, she had to hold her child back. At 17 months, the baby was given free surgery by a foreign charity surgery team at Children's Hospital 1.

After the surgery, the baby Hang developed physical and mental well, she was smart and talked like a normal child. However, due to delayed surgery, her head was still very big, unable to walk and sit on her own. On 26-5-2006, she was hospitalized for surgery due to the discharge of cerebrospinal fluid from the brain down to the abdomen.

Doctor Nguyen Duc Tuan - orthopedic simulator of Children's Hospital 1 - said hydrocephalus is one of the defects of neural tube. The cause is mostly congenital.

Neural tube defects are one of the major malformations, leaving many sequelae affecting the quality of life of children later. At 1 Pediatric Hospital each year, there are 52 cases of hospitalization, of which hydrocephalus accounts for the majority with 86%, the rest is medullary spinal cord hernia, meningeal hernia .

"Golden time": less than 6 months old

Dr. Dr. Vu Thi Nhung - director of Hung Vuong Hospital - said that currently the national program of the Ministry of Health only recommends supplementing iron tablets for pregnant mothers, not to mention folic acid supplementation.However, currently on the market there are iron tablets combined with folic acid.

If pregnant women in the first trimester of pregnancy go to pregnancy examination at Hung Vuong Hospital, they will be instructed by doctors to prescribe iron supplements with folic acid to prevent congenital neural tube defects in children.

According to Dr. Duc Tuan, with hydrocephalus disease, if the child is not operated early, the brain tissue needs to be pinched, causing serious sequelae for the child's health such as blindness, deafness, two limbs, unable to speak. .

The best surgery age for children, or 'golden time', is under six months of age. If early surgery results in a very good majority, the baby's head will not be enlarged due to water stasis and the development of normal children.

But now most children with hydrocephalus come to BV for treatment late. Some of them were over-indicated for surgery, leaving behind sequelae that were difficult to treat. The cause of late treatment is due to the economic situation or the parents' lack of knowledge about the disease, but the child is big but eating and playing normally should not pay attention. Until the child showed a vomiting, he could only see whites in his eyes.

How to know children with hydrocephalus? According to Dr. Duc Tuan, for children with congenital hydrocephalus, ultrasound techniques have been discovered early in the early life of the mother. In addition, it should be noted that children with hydrocephalus often have mothers with amniotomy during pregnancy. Therefore, after giving birth, the family needs to take the child to an early examination for early treatment.

"Neural tube defects can be prevented if the mother takes an acid folic supplement" - Duc Tuan said. According to Dr. Duc Tuan, folic acid helps to complete neural tube formation.

In addition to fighting neural tube defects, folic acid also plays an important role in increasing red blood cells. If pregnant women use it correctly, it also helps to increase the weight of the baby at birth.

Folic acid (also known as vitamin B9) belongs to the B vitamin group, which plays a role in the completion of neural tube closure during fetal period. However, folic acid plays a role only in a certain time.

Therefore, physicians often recommend married women to take folic acid before they are expected to become pregnant for three months and during the first trimester of pregnancy. Folic acid is also found in cereals, dark green vegetables. If you have enough of these foods during pregnancy, folic acid is not necessary.

LE THANH HA