Congenital Hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain)

I was wondering whether anyone has been involved with this condition and whether or not it was something that could be picked up on the ultrasounds done during pregnancy.

Hi Jaspen

I don't know if hydrocephalus can be picked up on an USS, sorry. I look after a lot of kiddos with hydrocephalus, and often its something that goes away by itself.

If it doesn't there are a few things you can do, one of which is a VP shunt, or ventriculo-peritoneal shunt, which basically is a little pipe put into the brain cavity and it drains excess fluid into the space between the stomach and the other abdominal organs where it gets reabsorbed by the body.

HTH

Kylie

Hi

I dont know if this helps but my babys Ventriculomegally was picked up at our 18-20 week ultrasound, Ventriculomegally is similar to Hydrocephally etc.. still extra fluid around the Brain. We were given lots of options etc... I have my c/s in 5 weeks time.

If you want anymore info post into the BB april group for me if you like

Lindie

Hi,

When I was 36 weeks pregnant my son was diagnosed with ventriculomegaly - 1st and 2nd ventricles enlarged- during an ultrasound that was done as I was measuring 40cms bigger than "normal". I was told he only had a 25-30% chance of being "normal" and could be retarted etc . I had an amnio done which showed no cause for this occuring eg spina bifida, down syndrome or infection CMV or toxoplasmosis. Upon these results I was told 50% chance of being "normal". I had a further two ultrasouns before his birth the when he was born went in the NICU for another u/s and xray. (his head circumference was considered normal) he had another 3 u/s until he was 4 month and the one at 4 months showed his 3rd ventricle also enlarged. We were referred to a neurologist and MRI done at 8 months, he was the diagnosed with hydrocephalus with no obvious cause. The neuroligist has said that he does not believe that this has affected his development ect he looks "normal" and continues to meet his milestones, however ongoing monitoring is required eg head circumference etc... and if need be may need a little extra help learing if at all. Ventricularmegaly / hydrocephalus does not necessarily mean that they will be abnormal and there are ways of draining excess fluid eg shunts should they be required.

Baby Jackson

Hi Baby Jackson and welcome to BellyBelly. Thanks for sharing your story. I hope you feel "at home" here :)

jaspen,
They picked up hydrocephalus during an U/S on my daughter Imogen, but it wasn't noticed until 36 weeks. i know of some people that they notice it on the 19 week U/S. My daughter is now nearly 7 months, she was delivered early by C Section due to concerns about the head size but it was found to be of normal size and didn't look abnormal as expected. At 8 weeks of age she had a VP shunt inserted and it was found that she also had thinning of the corpus collosum. At 12 weeks the shunt needed a revision due to the value dislodging from the tubing. It has been fine since. It was also discovered that there is a genetic problem, 6q deletion its called~ yet we are still waiting to see genetists to see what this means. She has had testing for many different things, puiturity, eyes, ears etc and has regular physio as she is a bit behind but the shunt has helped and decreased the fluid spaces on the brain and more brain matter has develop. She had been fine until a few days ago when she had a seizure and stopped breathing for about a minute, she pulled out of it fine and they are unsure what has caused this.. seems ok so far. They are going to do a EEG to check the brain waves in hope to find something. hope my daughter story has helped.