Experimental Progressive Hydrocephalus in the Young Animal

Abstract

22 puppies with kaolin-induced hydrocephalus were repeatedly studied for 4 months in respect to their head size, ventricular size, pressure and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics. The intraventricular pressure was markedly elevated during the first week and dropped towards the end of the first month of the hydrocephalic process. It then escalated and again returned to normal values after 3–4 months. Formation of CSF increased with age until it reached adult values of 0.049 ml/min at the age of 3 months. Absorption rates were very low initially. The absorptive capacity surpassed formation in the puppies which survived to the fourth month of the process. Ventricular size and rate of head enlargement correlated inversely with thickness of the skull. In the surviving puppies (4 out of 22) the hydrocephalic process seemed to have arrested.

Early deterioration of cerebrospinal fluid dynamics in a neonatal piglet model of intraventricular hemorrhage and posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation

“…The mean rate of CSF absorption, calculated from lateral ventricle perfusion studies increased from 0.01 ml/min to 0.06 ml/min over the same period. 46 Surviving animals rapidly increased their CSF absorption and demonstrated smaller heads, thicker skulls, and smaller ventricles than animals dying of hydrocephalus. This increase in CSF absorption on prolonged survival was also evident in our IVH piglet model.…”

“…The temporal evolution of hydrocephalus in neonatal animals was evaluated in a cisternal kaolin injection model in 7-to 14-day-old mixed-breed dogs. 46 Animals survived for up to 4 months and demonstrated severe macrocephaly and obstructive hydrocephalus. In some animals histological inflammatory changes were evident in the basal cisterns.…”

Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus — High Pressure Normocephalus

“…As the skull and dura become thicker and more rigid and finally cease to enlarge, they tend to oppose and finally check the increase in ventricular volume. Thus the elevation of intraventricular pressure may be both more prolonged and increased by the properties of these structures" (Sahar, 1979). Perhaps the latter is the explanation for the phenomenon of the slit ventricle syndrome and for the success of subtemporal decompression and dural opening (Epstein, Fleischer et al, 1974;Holness, Hoffman et al, 1979).…”