Water head disease in children

Head of water is the folk name of a ventricular effusion in a child, a birth defect of the nervous system, manifesting as a very large head. Many people think that the disease cannot be cured so they do not take their children for treatment.

Treatment of ventricular effusion at Children 's Hospital of Children 1. (Photo: Thanh Nien, VNE) Doctor Phuc is 2 years old but not aware of anything, mental retardation and movement. When visiting the 1 Children's Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, the doctor diagnosed Phuc with ventricular fluid. According to hospital statistics, this type of disease accounts for 80% of inpatient neural tube defects in the past 6 years. On average, every year, Children's Hospital 1 receives treatment for 52 children with ventricular fluid.

Usually, the child's cerebrospinal fluid is still secreted every day. In children without disease, the brain itself resolves this balance. In children with disease, the brain can not balance itself, the amount of cerebrospinal fluid is more than the amount of fluid absorbed into the blood, causing the head to have more water.

According to Dr. Nguyen Duc Tuan, Department of Pediatrics Hospital 1, the disease has clinical symptoms such as: the head is larger than the normal limit; front fontanel (evil mine) wide and puffed; eyes always look down. More severe, children may be paralyzed (most commonly paralyzed in the lower extremities), deafness, mental retardation, movement . The above symptoms often appear after the baby is born about 1 month or more .

There are many causes for children with water-related diseases such as: encephalitis, pus meningitis, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral hemorrhage, meningitis, obstetric and congenital. The majority of children with headaches in Children Hospital 1 are congenital. The disease can occur in any child, usually less than 1 year old.

Early treatment will be good

Because in the past, the treatment of ventricular effusion was still limited, so now most people misunderstand that the disease cannot be cured. Therefore, they have many families with sick children so leave it alone, only when there are new instructors to take them to the hospital. Therefore, a large number of children with ventricular fluid spill to Children's Hospital 1 have been ill for over a year.

Doctor Nguyen Duc Tuan said, until now, there has not been any medicine that can help cure head water, the treatment is mainly surgical. A small number of cases that do not need treatment also go away on their own. However, children may suffer from some prolonged sequelae that do not recover and the head is still enlarged.

During the intervention procedure, the doctor will place a drain of cerebrospinal fluid from the head to the abdomen. The tube is placed underneath the skin and permanently retained in the patient's body. Every day, excess cerebrospinal fluid will be directed down to the abdomen; From here the fluid will be absorbed back into the blood.

If treated early, the big head condition will be resolved; but if it is late (usually after 1 year), the surgery only helps to resolve the sequelae caused by the disease, while the big head condition cannot be solved because the bones in the head are closed. After surgery, the patient will be re-examined and monitored because the CSF can be blocked.